Thomas E. Mees (October 13, 1949 – August 14, 1996) was an American sportscaster best known for his role in hosting professional and collegiate

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

and for being a prominent personality on

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during that network's early years.

Early life and career

Mees began his career as a student at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

in Newark. After graduation in 1972, he became the sports director at WILM-AM radio in Wilmington. Mees returned to Delaware in 1992 when he announced the Blue Hens'

America East The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research ...

Championship for ESPN from the field house. After six years in Wilmington and one year at WECA-TV in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

, Mees was hired by ESPN as one of their first on-air personalities for the network's launch in 1979 on September 7. In 2005, he was inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.

ESPN

Mees was a lead anchor on ''

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'' from 1979 to 1985 when he took on hosting duties for

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with John Saunders as a secondary host. ESPN later lost the NHL contract to

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, and he returned full-time to ''SportsCenter''. When the NHL returned to ESPN in

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, he worked play-by-play NHL games during the season with

Darren Pang Darren Robert Pang (born February 17, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played his professional career with the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (1984–85 and 1987–89). He is currently the lead ...

or John Davidson as his analyst, and hosted ''SportsCenter'' in the off-season. Mees was an early advocate of NCAA Ice Hockey on ESPN, worked play-by-play for the Frozen Four (NCAA Hockey's championship tournament), and contributed to the increased visibility of that tournament . Other sports Mees called for ESPN included

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

, and

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. He also anchored the network's coverage of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

in the 1980s. By the 15th anniversary of ESPN, Mees (along with Chris Berman and

Bob Ley Robert A. Ley ( ; born March 16, 1955) is an American sports anchor and reporter, best known for his work at ESPN. A multiple Emmy Award-winner, he was the longest-tenured on-air employee of the network, having joined ESPN just three days after ...

) was one of three original ''SportsCenter'' anchors still with the network.

Death

On August 14, 1996, Mees, who did not know how to swim, drowned in a neighbor's swimming pool in

Southington, Connecticut Southington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, it had a population of 43,501. Southington contains the villages of Marion, Milldale, and Plantsville. Geography Southington is situ ...

. Police initially said that Mees had jumped into the pool to save his younger daughter but later said they did not know how he ended up in the water and classified his death as an accident. He and Michelle, his wife of almost 10 years, had two daughters: Lauren who was 8 years old and Gabrielle who was 4 at the time of his death.

References

External links

1984 USFL - ESPN: Tom Mees interviews Commissioner Chet Simmons
via

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mees, Tom National Football League announcers 1949 births 1996 deaths Accidental deaths in Connecticut American television sports anchors American television sports announcers Arena football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Deaths by drowning in the United States Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens basketball Major League Baseball broadcasters National Hockey League broadcasters People from Southington, Connecticut People from Wilmington, Delaware Tampa Bay Buccaneers announcers United States Football League announcers University of Delaware alumni National Basketball Association broadcasters College hockey announcers in the United States People from Springfield Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania Burials in New Jersey