Kathleen Elizabeth Fagan (born November 15, 1981) is an American sports reporter, commentator, and novelist. She previously was employed by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Before joining the ESPN staff, she worked as the ''Philadelphia Inquirer's'' beat writer for the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

Early life

Fagan was born in

Warwick, Rhode Island Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States, and is the third-largest city in the state, with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Warwick is located approximately south of downtown Pr ...

. Fagan's father played professional basketball in Europe before later opening a financial investment company. Her mother worked as a sales representative for

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

. She attended

Niskayuna High School Niskayuna High School is a public high school in Niskayuna, New York, United States, and is the only high school operated by the Niskayuna Central School District. History Niskayuna High School opened in 1957 after the Board of Education recom ...

Niskayuna, New York Niskayuna is a town in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 23,278 at the 2020 census. The town is located in the southeast part of the county, east of the city of Schenectady, and is the easternmost town in the county. ...

, where she became the school's all-time leading scorer in basketball. Fagan attended the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

where she lettered in basketball. After suffering a foot injury as a freshman, she rebounded to be among the team's best shooters and scorers. She set a

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

record by making 44 consecutive free throws during the 2002-03 season and was a perennial First-Team Academic Big 12 performer. In 2004, Fagan graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a Bachelor of Science in Communication. She also played two seasons with the Colorado Chill of the

National Women's Basketball League The National Women's Basketball League, often abbreviated to the NWBL, was an organization governing professional basketball leagues for women in the United States. The league was founded in 1997 and began play in the Fall of that year. The leagu ...

(NWBL).

University of Colorado statistics

Sources

Career

In 2006, Fagan began her professional career as a sports editor for the ''

Ellensburg Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82. The population was 18,666 at the 2020 census. and was ...

Daily Record''; the following year she moved to the ''

Glens Falls Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,830 at the 2020 census. The name was given by Colonel Johannes Glen, the falls ref ...

Post-Star'' as a sportswriter."Kate Fagan." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2015. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 4, 2017. Later, from 2008 to 2011, she was on the staff of the ''

Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'', where she was the

beat writer. As an ESPN writer beginning in 2012, Fagan also made regular TV appearances on '' Around the Horn'' and '' First Take''. As of January 18, 2018, Fagan had 36 wins on ''Around the Horn'' She co-hosted ''The Trifecta with Spain, Jane and Kate'' with

Sarah Spain Sarah Colby Spain (born August 18, 1980) is an American sports reporter. She works as an espnW.com columnist, ESPN Radio host, ESPN television personality and occasional ''SportsCenter'' reporter for ESPN. Early life and education Spain was b ...

and Jane McManus on

espnW ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

and ''Will and Kate'' with

Will Cain Charles Williams Cain (born March 28, 1975) is an American columnist, political analyst, and sports commentator. He hosts ''The Will Cain Show'' weekdays at 4 p.m. on the Fox News Channel. Previously, Cain had been a co-host of '' Fox & Friends ...

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

. Fagan's piece "Owning the Middle", a profile of basketball player

Brittney Griner Brittney Yvette Griner (; born October 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women's natio ...

for

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue, with the cover line "NEXT.," was published on March 11, 1998 (cover date March 23, 1998), and featured K ...

, was selected for inclusion in Glenn Stout's "Notable Sports Writing of 2013". In May 2017, Fagan started a podcast on ESPN called ''Free Cookies'', which she co-hosted with her partner, yoga instructor Kathryn Budig. Fagan left ESPN at the end of 2018. Fagan is a regular on the 538 podcast ''Hot Takedown''. Fagan is a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

and she married her wife Kathryn Budig in 2018.

Works

In 2014, Fagan authored ''The Reappearing Act: Coming Out as Gay on a College Basketball Team Led by Born-Again Christians'' through

Skyhorse Publishing Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont. History The current president and publisher is founder Tony Ly ...

. The memoir chronicles Fagan's experiences on the Colorado women's basketball team. Her second book, ''What Made Maddy Run,'' about Madison Holleran, a

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

track and field athlete who took her own life in 2014, was released on August 1, 2017. Her book delves into the pressure young women face in regards to social media, specifically Instagram. She brings to light the disparities between Holleran's depressive reality, and the fun and filtered photos that she posted on Instagram. Her novel, ''The Three Lives of Cate Kay'', debuted on January 7, 2025. It was chosen as

Reese's Book Club Reese's Book Club is a celebrity book sales club run by Reese Witherspoon under her media company Hello Sunshine. Since its founding in 2017, the club has gained a reputation for boosting the careers of female authors such as Delia Owens, Celeste ...

's January 2025 pick.

References

External links

Kate Fagan on TwitterKate Fagan (official)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, Kate 1981 births Living people American sports radio personalities American lesbian sportswomen American lesbian writers Basketball players from Rhode Island Guards (basketball) Colorado Buffaloes women's basketball players LGBTQ basketball players American LGBTQ broadcasters People from Warwick, Rhode Island University of Colorado Boulder alumni LGBTQ people from Rhode Island American women's basketball players American women sportswriters Sportswriters from Rhode Island National Women's Basketball League players