Steele shows game face
ESPN’S sideline reporter stepped into Andrews’ role
HOLLYWOOD — Her ball cap pulled low, Samantha Steele steppedout of the conference room at a beachside hotel Thursday afternoon.
Arriving in South Florida late the previous night, ESPN’s rising star was running a fever and her suitcase was packed for winter. By 7: 30 that evening, Steele went live fromthe Sun Life Stadium sidelines as Miami beat Virginia Tech.
It’s a new city every day for the Phoenix native. She hasn’t been home in a month. Exhaustion is setting in.
But it’s where this crazy ride started that sets Steele apart from the other young broadcasting talents. Her ascent in the sports broadcasting world led Steele to the Thursday night sideline reporting gig. By Saturday morning, she was in Baton Rouge as part of the “College GameDay” crew setting the scene for No. 1Alabama at fifth- ranked LSU.
Prefacing her story by acknowledging how “ridiculous” her path is, Steele starts at the beginning.
“I didn’t have cable growing up,” said Steele in one of her first interviews since being called up to the big leagues. “I never saw ESPN or ‘ GameDay.’ I thought I wanted to be on ESPN, but I didn’t know what the heck it was. I knew it was sports television, but we didn’t have it. We didn’t really watch TV growing up.”
One of four childrenwith a coach for a father, Steele grew up playing sports more than watching them. From soccer to softball, she was either competing or cheering on a family member.
It was a way of life that didn’t involve hours in front of the television.
At 18, she got the itch and moved cross country to New York City. No job. No connections.
“So I went to the ESPN Zone in Times Square and applied to be a hostess,” she said. “This was my thought process, this is how naïve I was. I thought there would be ESPN people coming in there because it’s the ESPN Zone.”
Living off the Wendy’s coupons her mother mailed, Steele was locked into one goal.
“I wanted to be Ahmad Rashad,” she said of the host she watched on NBC’s “NBA Inside Stuff.” “If I got to New York, I could be Ahmad Rashad. I had no clue how that all worked.”
Her admittedly half baked idea actually worked and soon Steele was an intern at ABC Sports Radio. That led to a researcher- assistant job with ABC- TV on the college football studio show.
Working for the Mid- Atlantic Sports Network ( MASN), Steele developed the on- air presence that’s nowadding to her fame one broadcast at a time.
She’s quick with her wit, and shows no apprehension trying somethingnew. After working for Fox Sports for two years, Steele moved over to ESPN and itsTexasthemed LonghornNetwork last year.
The call to the farm team then came before this season, after a major piece of its broadcast team moved on. Erin Andrews’ July switch to the Fox network opened a “GameDay” roster spot soon filled by Steele. She also picked up the co- hosting jobonthe9a. m. ESPNU “GameDay” show once occupied by Andrews.
Thus began the whirl- wind.
Averaging eight flights a week, Steele criss- crosses the country. Her improvisational skills were best showcased taping her mostpopular segment to date, Trick Shot Monday at Notre Dame. Flying in just a few hours of filming, Steele participated in the weekly team tradition of bouncing a pingpong ball into a plastic cup using walls, foreheads— anything available.
Adding her own twist at the end, Steele doused Irish lineman Mike Golic Jr. with the water cup at the end as his teammates went bananas. That partcamenatu-rally. The live “GameDay” shows in front of a wild audience came as a shock.
She’d never seen the show before stepping onto the stage this fall.
“I know,” she said with a knowing smile. “It’sweird.”