Biography of Robin Roberts

The pioneering work of Robin Roberts has proven that in the world of sports broadcasting, knowledge, experience, and talent are no longer male domains. Now, as the news anchor on ABC’s Good Morning America, Roberts continues to demonstrate the same grace and ease she used giving a play-by-play commentary or interviewing the President of the United States. Her intelligence and manner engage the viewer’s attention and involvement.

Robin, the youngest of four children, grew up in a very supportive family on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Her success demonstrates her ability to expand and refine the skills and confidence she had already developed in high school. She was chosen as class salutatorian and was an exemplary student-athlete.

Attending Southeastern Louisiana University on a basketball scholarship, she graduated cum laude with a degree in communications. Robert credits the scholarship opportunities created by Title IX of the 1972 Education Code for her college education. Her record setting performance on the women’s basketball team earned her a place in Southern Louisiana University’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

From early childhood, Robin loved all sports. “No matter what sport it was I loved it, loved it, loved it. Loved every aspect of it, seeing how fast I could run, competing against someone else, etc. Then, in high school my first love was tennis, and I knew there was no way I was going to be a pro, because I did not have the training and started too late.”

As a young adult, she focused on becoming a sports broadcaster. With this goal, she combined her passion for sports with her interest in journalism. In the years that followed, this combination would come full-circle as her passion became journalism with an interest in sports.

After award-winning sports reporting and anchoring stints in both Atlanta and Nashville, Robin joined ESPN in February of 1990. Through her work as an anchor of ESPN’s Sports Center and as host of ABC Sports, she became recognized as one of the finest broadcasters in the profession.

Displaying her versatility as a commentator, Roberts has been prominent in the coverage of women’s and men’s college basketball for both ESPN and ABC. She played a primary role in ESPN’s coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 1998 Winter Olympics. In April of 2002, she joined the team at ABC’s Good Morning America and other ABC News programs.

Roberts has achieved well-deserved recognition as one of the finest anchors in the country. In 1996, The Women’s Institute on Sports and Education created the Robin Roberts Sports Journalism Scholarship. The same year, Roberts received the annual Distinguished Achievement Award in Broadcasting from the University of Georgia’s Di Gamma Kappa, the nation’s oldest professional broadcasting society. In 2001, she received the President’s Award from the Women’s Sports Foundation, and in 2002, Ebony magazine named her “Outstanding Journalist” at its Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications Awards. She is also a three-time Emmy Award Winner, and her broadcasting has garnered dozens of other awards for both distinguished achievement as a broadcaster and her pioneering role in expanding options for women in broadcast journalism. Her pioneering work sets a bold example for women everywhere.