From 1988-2001, Dick Schaap hosted The Sports Reporters on ESPN and it became a weekly staple for those looking for debate on the biggest sports topics of the week. After Dick Schaap passed away in 2001, the network chose John Saunders. He held the job for 15 years until he suddenly passed away in 2016.
Some always wondered if Dick’s son, Jeremy, would become the permanent host of The Sports Reporters. Jeremy did fill in as a host occassionally and he was a panelist a good portion of the time. However, he told Ariel Helwani on the latest episode of The Ariel Helwani Show that it would have been strange for him to take the spot of his dad.
“When my father died in 2001, I had just turned 32. I had only been on-air at ESPN for 5 years and I think it would have been strange. First of all, John Saunders was a great choice. He did a tremendous job until his very unfortunate and premature death in 2016 after having done the show for 15 years. John did it and it was his job.”
Once The Sports Reporters went off-the-air, the younger Schaap did take over the time slot. A weekly edition of E:60 that Jeremy Schaap did with Bob Ley debuted in the Sunday morning slot in 2016.
Schaap has been at ESPN for almost 30 years and he has never thought about going to another network because of all the things he has been able to do at the WorldWide Leader.
“If I could have picked one place in the world with hindsight in 1993, this is where you are going to work for 30 years and hopefully beyond, knowing everything now and ESPN’s stature, I would have picked ESPN. I’m just very lucky they haven’t gotten around to figuring out that they are done with me. It’s been great.”
