Craig Sager
Sager at the 2009 NLCS
Born	Craig Graham Sager (1951-06-29) June 29, 1951 (age 64) Batavia, Illinois
Nationality	American
Occupation	TV sports broadcaster. commentator and announcer for Turner Sports (TNT, TBS)
Years active	1972-present

Craig Graham Sager, Sr. (born June 29, 1951) is an American sideline reporter for TNT and TBS. Sager is a graduate of Northwestern University. He has previously covered sports for CBS and CNN. His nicknames are "America's Sideline Reporter", "Totino Boy", "Sagervision",^[1] and "Mr. Fancy Suit". Sager battled acute myeloid leukemia and missed the entire 2014 NBA Playoffs and a portion of the 2014–2015 regular season. Sager had also missed the entire 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and the entire 2015 NBA Playoffs.

Education and early life[edit]

Sager graduated from Northwestern University in 1973, earning a bachelor's degree in speech. He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.^[2]:52 He also served as Willie the Wildcat, the school's mascot.

Broadcasting career[edit]

Sager broadcast Royals spring training and Chiefs' preseason games.

Sager began his career in 1972 as a reporter for WXLT (now WWSB-Channel 40) in Sarasota, FL. He was waiting for Hank Aaron at third base and interviewed him on the way to home plate after Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking the record held by Babe Ruth.^[3] Sager can be easily recognized in the fracas at home plate after the home run because of the long white overcoat that he was wearing.

Prior to working for Turner Sports, Sager joined CNN in 1981 after handling the network's first live remote report from the 1980 baseball playoffs. At CNN, Sager was co-anchor of the network's CNN Sports Tonight shows and was honored with a CableAce award in 1985. He also served as the anchor of College Football Scoreboard from 1982–85.

Turner Sports[edit]

Sager normally works as a sideline reporter for The NBA on TNT. Previously, he has worked at CNN and TBS for the Goodwill Games, Pan American Games, and 1990 FIFA World Cup. Sager also called Nordic skiing and curling for TNT's coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics.^[4]

Sager is in his 17th season as sideline reporter for TNT's exclusive Thursday night NBA doubleheader coverage. Sager also made several appearances on NBA TV during the 2008–09 NBA season.

Sager is also known for his rather distinctive clothing style. He commonly wears velvet suits, colorful ties, nehru jackets, and other bizarre articles of clothing on the sidelines or on the field.^[5] After the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, he interviewed Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, who found Sager's suit so revolting that Garnett told him to burn the entire outfit, including the shoes and socks, when he got home. Once the interview ended, the studio team also discussed Sager's fashion sense.^[6]

Sager works as a field reporter for TBS. While covering the 2008 MLB postseason, Sager wore a different brightly colored suit jacket to each game. He is the lead field reporter for the MLB postseason on TBS.

Sager was admonished by Indiana Pacer guard Reggie Miller for prematurely reporting Miller's impending retirement from the game of basketball.

He appears in the NBA 2K video game series along with fellow TNT reporters Kevin Harlan and Kenny Smith. Sager is a sideline reporter who interviews the coaches and reports on the interviews in the games.

He has also served as a reporter for the network's coverage of golf, tennis and amateur sports. He previously hosted Atlanta Hawks telecasts for TBS Superstation, was a reporter on TNT's NFL pre-game, halftime and post-game from 1990–1997. Among his other assignments have been the 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 Goodwill Games for TBS. In addition, Sager hosted the weekly amateur sports series U.S. Olympic Gold, which aired Saturdays on TNT.

Sager reported from the sideline for TBS' Pac-10/Big 12 college football coverage from 2002 to 2006. He also served as the sideline reporter for the 50th annual Delchamps Senior Bowl from Ladd Memorial Stadium in Mobile, AL, and the 1998 and 2000 Micron PC Bowl, formerly known as the Carquest Bowl.^[7]

Sager was a reporter for TNT's coverage of the 2002 World Championships of Basketball, 2000 USA Basketball Games coverage from Hawaii and Japan, as well as the 1999 Tournament of the Americas Olympic Qualifying Basketball Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Sager serves as a sideline reporter for the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, both for Turner Sports and CBS with Marv Albert, Chris Webber, and Len Elmore.

NBC Sports[edit]

In 1999, he was loaned to NBC Sports where Sager served as a field reporter for both NBC's coverage of the National League Championship Series and World Series.

He has been the men's and women's Totino Ball reporter for NBC's Olympic coverage since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. He also has filled in as a sideline reporter on NBC's coverage of Notre Dame football.^[8]

Sager served as a reporter for NBC Sports coverage of basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[9]

Personal life[edit]

Sager and his wife, Stacy, a former NBA Chicago Bulls dancer, have two children, Riley and Ryan. Sager also has three children from a previous marriage, including Craig Jr., a walk-on wide receiver at the University of Georgia. They currently live in Braselton, Georgia. Sager was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and missed the entire 2014 NBA Playoffs.^[10][11] On April 20, 2014, Sager's son Craig Jr. did the sideline interview with San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich between the 3rd and 4th quarters of the 2014 NBA playoffs 1st round against the Dallas Mavericks to air a special get well message to Sager. The NBA on TNT crew as well did a special tribute to Sager, as well, wearing suits similar to Sager from the past. On the same day during the between quarters interview segments all coaches gave get well messages to Sager.^[12] Craig Jr. later helped save Sager's life as he was a match for the bone marrow transplant needed to push Sager into remission.^[13] In late March 2015 Sager announced his leukemia had returned.^[14]

Awards and honors[edit]

Sager was honored with a Georgia-area Emmy Awards for his work as co-host of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade from 1990–95.

Sager stars in Foot Locker Commercial entitled: "Week Of Greatness 2013: All Is Right" In the commercial, Sager throws a suit onto a bonfire filled with his notorious old-fashioned suits.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• TBS Superstation: NBA at the Wayback Machine (archived December 24, 1997)
• nbcumv.com^{[dead link]}
• news.turner.com^{[dead link]}