What we can all learn from the life and career of Stuart Scott

If you’ve spent any time around sports media in the last few days, you’re well aware that longtime ESPN anchor Stuart Scott died Sunday at the age of 49. Moving tributes have been pouring in since then, starting with ESPN’s own tribute video, narrated by Robin Roberts.

Kate Fagan spoke for the vast majority—those of us who never met the man but felt like we knew him anyway—with her espnW piece headlined “Whether we met him or not, we all mourn Stuart Scott’s passing.”

Full disclosure: I was not always a fan of Scott. For a while I found his catch-phrases contrived and annoying and thought he was a jock sniffer. Over the years I came to grudgingly respect him for being unique. And, other than the fierce and dignified way he handled cancer, I think that’s the lesson I’ll take from his professional life.

Over the holidays my teenage cousins emailed to say they’re thinking about starting a sports blog, and they asked old Uncle King for some pro advice. I sent back more than they wanted to hear, I’m sure, but one key point was: Be distinct. “Why should anyone read MY post,” I told them to ask themselves, “as opposed to any of the dozens or hundreds or thousands of blog posts or news stories or videos or whatever on the same subject? What am I offering that no one else does?”

Scott is a great example of someone making himself distinct. There was no one like him, and there was incredible value in that, for both Scott and ESPN. It didn’t matter at all that someone like me didn’t care much for his style. Plenty of people did, and all of us knew exactly who Stuart Scott was, right from the start. There was no mistaking him for some other suit behind a desk on TV.

Rich Eisen, who teamed with Scott on “SportsCenter” in the ’90s, talks about this in the ESPN tribute video above:

When we started doing “SportsCenters” together in ’96, just hearing from a lot of people that his style was grating on them, and I know Stuart heard that, but he didn’t care. I mean, not one time did he think for a single second that he should be anything but himself, and true to himself, and who he is.

Dan Patrick adds: “He didn’t just push the envelope. He bulldozed the envelope.”

That sounds like a good way to approach a career: Look for envelopes to bulldoze, and don’t worry if some stick-in-the-mud finds you annoying.