Scott Van Pelt (born ) is an American sportscaster and sports

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

host. He co-anchored the 11 p.m. edition of ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and o ...

'' on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, served as the co-host of '' SVP & Russillo'' alongside Ryen Russillo on

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded 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 original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN ...

, and hosts various

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

events for the network. In June 2015, Van Pelt left his radio show to become a solo anchor for a midnight edition of ''SportsCenter''.

Early life and education

Van Pelt was born in Brookeville, Maryland, and grew up in the Washington, D.C., area. He attended Flower Valley Elementary School in

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...

. He graduated from Sherwood High School in

Sandy Spring, Maryland Sandy Spring is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Geography Sandy Spring's boundaries are roughly defined as Brooke Road and Dr. Bird Road to the north and west, Ednor Road to the south, and New Hamp ...

, and from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

in 1988 where he studied radio/television and film. He is a member of the

Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Alpha (), commonly known as PIKE, is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and colonies across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate members over 3 ...

fraternity.

Career

Van Pelt began his career in sportscasting in 1990 at

WTTG-TV WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA share ...

, a FOX affiliate in Washington, D.C. From 1995 to 2000, Van Pelt worked for the

Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently based out of NBC S ...

, where he was a studio host for some of the network's signature programs. He left the channel in 2001 to join

, where he serves as a ''

'' anchor, and is one of the network's top

correspondents, covering major tournaments such as the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first ma ...

. After acquiring the cable rights to the tournament, Van Pelt also appeared on ESPN's coverage of

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...

. He also is a prominent personality for

, where he was the co-host of ''Tirico and Van Pelt'' alongside

Mike Tirico Mike Tirico (; born December 13, 1966) is an American sportscaster. He is currently the NFL play-by-play announcer on NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'', having replaced Al Michaels in 2022. From 2006 to 2015, Tirico served as a play-by-play anno ...

before the program was canceled and replaced with Van Pelt's own three-hour program, ''The Scott Van Pelt Show'', in 2009. The show was renamed '' SVP & Russillo'' in October 2012. He is a studio presenter for the ESPN Network's Friday night College Football on ESPN. Van Pelt has also appeared as a commentator in golf video games, alongside

Kelly Tilghman Kelly Tilghman (born August 6, 1969, North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) is a former broadcaster for Golf Channel, and NBC Sports, and is the PGA Tour's first female lead golf announcer. On July 29, 2020, it was announced that Tilghman was hired by ...

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

' '' Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10'' and ''

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 ''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11'' is a sports video game developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA Sports for PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. Features ''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11'' features the Ryder Cup tournament for the first time in the game fran ...

'' and in a comedic turn in ''

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am'' is a video game based on the Adult Swim animated television series, ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force''. It is a hybrid kart racing/fighting/golf game that takes place on several New Jersey golf courses. It was ...

''. In 2012, Van Pelt made the decision to stay with ESPN. In May 2015, the network announced Van Pelt would leave the radio show SVP & Russillo to become a solo anchor for a midnight edition of ''SportsCenter'', which began in late summer 2015. The midnight show covers sports events from the day, but includes additional commentary from Van Pelt and some popular elements from the radio show.

Personal life

Van Pelt's grandfather, Lorenzo, immigrated to the U.S. from Italy and lived in Brooklyn.

References

External links

ESPN bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Pelt, Scott American television sports announcers American sports radio personalities ESPN people Golf writers and broadcasters College football announcers University of Maryland, College Park alumni Sportspeople from Montgomery County, Maryland Living people Year of birth missing (living people)