Robert A. Ley ( ; born March 16, 1955) is an American sports anchor and reporter, best known for his work at

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 ...

. A multiple

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-winner, he was the longest-tenured on-air employee of the network, having joined ESPN just three days after the network's 1979 launch and retiring from the network effective at the end of June 2019.

Early life and education

Ley was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. He grew up in Bloomfield, New Jersey, where he attended Bloomfield High School. He got his start in broadcasting as a sportscaster and program director at WSOU at

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

, and interned as a production staffer at WOR-AM in New York City. After graduating ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in Communications, Ley worked several minor broadcasting jobs, including public address announcer with the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team, before landing his first major position with ESPN just three days after the network's launch in 1979.Bob Ley signs with Octagon, octagon.com; accessed May 8, 2015.

Career

In the mid to late 1970s, Bob was Sports Director at Suburban Cablevision TV3 out of East Orange, New Jersey, where he hosted an award-winning local-oriented sports show, Time In, alongside Bruce Beck, who would move on to WNBC, Channel 4 in New York. Ley joined ESPN on September 9, 1979. In 1980, he hosted the first televised NCAA Selection Show, though the airing would switch to CBS two years later. Starting in 1990, Ley hosted ESPN's investigative program '' Outside the Lines''. He hosted ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

'' for much of his career at ESPN, and on August 9, 2004, he hosted an "old school" edition with longtime broadcasting partner Charley Steiner. Ley was the primary studio host for ESPN's telecasts of major international professional

tournaments, including the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

, the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

, the 2012 UEFA European Championship and the 2016 UEFA European Championship. During the Night of 1000 Stars, Grantland.com's

Men in Blazers ''Men in Blazers'' is the largest independent association football-focused media company in North America, covering the sport year-round through daily podcasts, digital and YouTube videos, a monthly program on NBC’s Peacock network, Twitch str ...

, Michael Davies and Rog Bennett, presented Ley with the first Men In Blazers Golden Blazer for lifetime services to American soccer. During the presentation of the Golden Blazer, the Men in Blazers showed footage of Ley's anchoring of ''SportsCenter'' and presenting highlights of the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT), officially recognized as USA by FIFA, represents the United States in men's international Association football, soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation, which is ...

qualifying for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

in Italy. It was the first time the USMNT qualified for the FIFA World Cup since 1950. On September 7, 2014, in recognition of ESPN's 35th anniversary as a cable network, he was honored as one of 19 "ESPN Originals", employees who have been with the network from the beginning. Ley took an indefinite

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

from his ESPN hosting duties starting on October 1, 2018. On June 26, 2019, Ley announced his retirement from ESPN, effective at the end of the month.

Personal life

Ley is married to Barbara, and has two children. He serves on the board of regents for Seton Hall University.

Honors

* 1987 – Bloomfield High School Athletic Hall of Fame * 1995 –

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

Center for Study of Sport and Society and School of Journalism Excellence in Sports Journalism Award * WSOU-FM Hall of Fame Member * Eight

Sports Emmy Awards The Sports Emmy Awards, or Sports Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Sports E ...

for Sports Journalism * Three CableACE Awards for Sports Information Series * Four CableACE Awards (with Suburban Cablevision,

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

) * 2008 – Commencement speaker for the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. It enrolled approximately 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students as ...

(

West Hartford, Connecticut West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. The population was 64,083 at the 20 ...

) * 2013 – Golden Blazer of Fame for services to soccer in the United States *2018 – Sports Emmy for Outstanding Studio Host *2025 - Colin Jose Media Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ley, Bob American television sports announcers American soccer commentators 1955 births Living people Bloomfield High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Bloomfield, New Jersey Public address announcers ESPN people Seton Hall University alumni North American Soccer League (1968–1984) commentators Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) commentators College basketball announcers in the United States Major League Soccer broadcasters Mass media people from Newark, New Jersey Sports Emmy Award winners