Harrah's Broadcast Award

Suzy Kolber, Anchor/NFL Sideline Reporter

Suzy Kolber returned to ESPN in August 1999 and since 2001 has served as the sideline reporter for ESPN’s Sunday Night Football, cable television’s most-watched series for each of its 19 seasons.  Widely praised by critics for elevating that role to new heights, Kolber was named to Sports Business Daily’s 2004 list of the 10 favorite sports TV personalities of the past 10 years.

In 2006, Kolber will get her first Super Bowl assignment as a reporter during ABC Sports’ broadcast of Super Bowl XL in Detroit, where she will also contribute to the network’s pre-game show. This fall Kolber will shift from Sunday to Monday nights when the NFL’s signature series Monday Night Football moves to ESPN. She will team with play-by-play commentators Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser and Joe Theismann and fellow reporter Michele Tafoya.

Kolber has also played a major role in ESPN’s comprehensive coverage of the annual NFL Draft, hosting the network’s Day 2 coverage the past two years (2004-05) and leading analysis segments on Day 1.

During the NFL off-season, Kolber serves as an anchor on SportsCenter and as an on-site host for ESPN’s tennis coverage at the French Open (since 2004) and Wimbledon (since 2003).  For the 1999 through 2003 NFL seasons, Kolber was the host of NFL Match-Up and in 2000 and ’01 she hosted the X Games and Winter X Games.  In this second stint with the network, she has also covered Triple Crown horse racing events for ESPN/ESPN2 studio programs and contributed the “Backstage” segments to Monday Night Countdown.  

Kolber originally joined ESPN in 1993 as co-host for ESPN2’s SportsNight when the network debuted October 1 of that year.  She later served as an anchor on SportsCenter, a reporter on College GameDay and co-host of the X Games in 1995 and ’96.  She also hosted ESPN2's SportsFigures, which uses sports celebrities and analogies to teach math and physics.  She left ESPN for Fox Sports in November 1996, where she anchored a nightly sports news program and reported from NFL games, among other duties.

Kolber came to ESPN from WPEC-TV in West Palm Beach, FL, where she was a weekend sports anchor and weekday feature reporter since December 1991.  In 1991, Kolber's freelance assignments included work as a reporter/producer for Breeders' Cup Newsfeed in Greenwich, CT, a field producer for Inside Edition in New York; a sports specials producer for WCIX-TV in Miami, and a producer/director for NFL Films.  From 1989-90, she freelanced as a sports specials producer for WPLG-TV in Miami.  In addition, she produced two magazine shows, Cowboys Special Edition in Irving, Texas (1990-91) and Greyhound Racing America in Miami, FL (1988-90). From 1985 to 1989, she produced the 5:30 p.m. ET sportscast at WTVJ-TV in Miami, winning a local Sports Emmy in 1988.

Kolber, born May 14, 1964, was graduated from the University of Miami in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in telecommunication.  While an undergraduate, she worked at Dynamic Cable in Coral Gables, FL as a sports director (1984-86).  After graduation, she worked at CBS Sports in New York as a videotape coordinator (1986).