Chris McKendry (born Christine McKendry February 18, 1968) is a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for

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 role she has served since 1996. McKendry worked as a long-time anchor on ''

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 ...

''. She serves as full-time on-site host for

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

coverage of the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

and US Open.

Early life

McKendry grew up in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area, and was a Division I scholarship tennis player at

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

Career

Prior to joining ESPN, McKendry had been at

WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister ...

, ABC affiliate in Washington D.C., where she was a sports reporter. McKendry first anchored ''SportsCenter'' on July 27, 1996, shifting to

ESPNEWS ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News," stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hear ...

for the launch of the 24-hour sports news network. She returned to ''SportsCenter'' later that year, co-hosting the weekend morning and weekday 6 p.m. editions of the network's flagship news and information program. McKendry's work beyond ''SportsCenter'' has included a variety of assignments, including late night host of ESPN's Wimbledon coverage in 2007 and covering the U.S. Open for ''SportsCenter'' in 2002–06. She has also served as co-host of ESPN's coverage of the Winter X Games late-night host for the X Games in 1997 and 1998, and contributed to '' College Football Live'' during the 2007 season. She was the sideline reporter for ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports’ telecasts of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, and since 2002 has hosted ESPN's coverage of the

National Spelling Bee The Scripps National Spelling Bee, formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and often referred to as the National Spelling Bee or simply “the Spelling Bee” in the United States, is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. ...

. McKendry also served as a columnist on ESPN.com's “Page Two” In 2001 and 2002. McKendry has the distinction as being the first woman to work as a television sports news anchor in the Washington D.C. market (1994–96). In June 1996, she received a regional Sports Emmy in the Best Sports Segment Category for “NFL 101,” which illustrated for novice fans how to watch football. While at WJLA-TV, McKendry also co-hosted ''Redskin Magazine'', a 1-hour, live pregame show. In 1996, she was sideline and feature reporter for TNT and TBS during the

NBA Playoffs The NBA playoffs is the annual Playoffs, postseason Tournament#Knockout tournaments, tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league champion. Since 1949, the four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held afte ...

. She also served as a sports anchor/reporter at All-News Channel/Conus in Minneapolis (1993–1994), an update anchor for

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

(1993–1994) and Newsport (1994) and as a producer for Fox News Service in Washington D.C. (1992–1993). McKendry co-anchored her final ''SportsCenter'' broadcast on March 31, 2016, and transitioned to cover tennis full-time for ESPN with the

in January, and U.S. Open in late summer.

Personal life

McKendry graduated from Archbishop Ryan High School and later attended

on a tennis scholarship. From Somerton, Philadelphia, she is currently married and the mother of two sons.Drexel Dragons - Drexel Tennis Alum Chris McKendry Anchored ESPNs Wimbledon Coverage
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References

External links

Chris McKendry article archiveChris McKendry ESPN Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKendry, Chris 1968 births Living people American television sports anchors Television personalities from Philadelphia Drexel Dragons women's tennis players Drexel University alumni American tennis commentators Television anchors from Washington, D.C. American women sports commentators Scripps National Spelling Bee NBA broadcasters American soccer commentators American women columnists Washington Redskins announcers College football announcers ESPN people