Hannah Lynn Storen Hicks (born June 13, 1962), known professionally as Hannah Storm, is an American television sports journalist, serving as the anchor of

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 ...

's ''

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 was also host of the '' NBA Countdown'' pregame show on ABC as part of the network's

National Basketball Association 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 ...

(NBA) Sunday game coverage.

Early life and career

Storm was born in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, adjacent to Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 26th-most populous municipality in Illinois, with a population of 54,318 as of the 2020 census. Oak Park was first se ...

, and is the daughter of sports executive

Mike Storen Mark "Mike" Storen Jr. (September 14, 1935 – May 7, 2020) was an American sports executive in basketball, baseball, and football. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame and a stint in the US Marines, he began his career wit ...

, who was a commissioner of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

, general manager of that league's

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were an American professional basketball team based in Louisville, Kentucky. They competed in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonels. The Colo ...

and

Memphis Sounds The Memphis Sounds were an American professional sports franchise that played in Memphis, Tennessee from 1970 until 1975 as a member of the American Basketball Association. The team was first founded as the New Orleans Buccaneers in 1967. Known d ...

franchises, and president of the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

in 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 ...

. Her mother, Hannah G. Storen, is a real estate broker. Storm graduated from The Westminster Schools, in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and in 1983 from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

. Storm took her on-air name during her stint as a disc jockey for a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

radio station in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

, in the early 1980s. While at Notre Dame, she worked for WNDU-TV, the then-Notre Dame-owned

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

. After graduation, she took a job as a disc jockey at KNCN (C-101) in

. Six months later, she got a job at a Houston rock station KSRR 97 Rock as the drive-time sportscaster and traffic reporter Storm stayed in Houston for four years doing a variety of radio and television jobs, including hosting the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

halftime and postgame shows and also hosted

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

postgame shows on KTXH television. She worked as a weekend sports anchor on

WCNC-TV WCNC-TV (channel 36) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc. WCNC-TV's studios are located in the Wood Ridge Center office complex off Billy Graham Parkway (Ch ...

36 (formerly WRET) in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, from 1988 to 1989. She transitioned to CNN from there.

National career

CNN

Storm's national experience began as the first female host on '' CNN Sports Tonight'' from 1989 to 1992. She also hosted ''Major League Baseball Preview'' and reported from

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

, the playoffs, and the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

. In addition, she hosted the

1990 Goodwill Games The 1990 Goodwill Games was the second edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held between July 20 and August 5, 1990. Following an inaugural edition in Moscow, the second games took place in Seattle, Unit ...

for TBS.

NBC Sports

In May 1992, Storm left CNN and was hired by NBC. She hosted for the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, as well as

and WNBA basketball, the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

and

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Storm became the first woman in American television history to act as solo host of a network's sports package when she hosted NBC Major League Baseball games from 1994 to 2000 ( CBS' Andrea Joyce preceded her, but co-hosted the sports packages). She then hosted ''The NBA on NBC'' from

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. Storm also anchored NBC Sports coverage of

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 ...

, French Open, Notre Dame football,

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU). The first World Championships were held in 1896 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and they have been held e ...

, NBC SportsDesk, Men's and Women's U.S. Open (golf) and various college bowl games. Storm was also the first play-by-play announcer for the WNBA in 1997.

''The Early Show''

On October 28, 2002, she moved to

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

and became one of the hosts of ''

The Early Show ''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999, to January 7, 2012, replacing the original incarnation of '' CBS This Morning'', and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the n ...

''. As co-host of ''The Early Show'', she covered major news events, including the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

, Super Bowls XXXVIII and XLI, the

2004 Democratic National Convention The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts for president and Senator John Edwards from North ...

, the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

presidential elections, and the 2005 London terrorist bombings. Storm has interviewed major newsmakers such as Presidents

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, First Lady

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (née Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American educator who was the first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 as the wife of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. Bush was previously the fir ...

, Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

and Senators

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

, as well as many sports and pop culture icons, including

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. Known for his work in both the screen and music industries, his accolades include an Academy Award, a Grammy Award ...

Halle Berry Halle Maria Berry ( ; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant of 1986 and also placing six ...

and

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom ''Friends'' from 1994 to 2004, which earned her Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Scr ...

. In addition to her duties on ''The Early Show'', Storm hosted shows for the award-winning CBS newsmagazine, '' 48 Hours''. She also served as co-host of the network's ''CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade'' for five years. In 2007, Storm conceived and wrote a daily blog for CBSNews.com, which featured behind-the-scenes insight and stories of inspirational women. During an ''Early Show'' on-air segment, Storm revealed on camera that she had a congenital defect known as port-wine stain under her left eye. In November 2007, CBS announced that Storm was leaving ''

''. Storm's last day as an ''Early Show'' co-host was December 7, 2007.

ESPN/ABC

Storm joined

on May 10, 2008. She anchors ''

'' weekdays (except Fridays during the NFL season) from 9 am until noon and on Sunday mornings during the NFL season with Bob Ley. Her duties are to deliver highlights and to question analysts about sports topics. In August 2009, she added tennis host to her ESPN duties by co-hosting the 2009 U.S. Open with

Mike Tirico Michael Todd Tirico (; born December 13, 1966) is an American sportscaster. He is currently the lead play-by-play announcer for ''NBC Sunday Night Football'', having replaced Al Michaels in 2022, and is set to become the lead play-by-play anno ...

and Chris Fowler. She also co-hosted the 2010 U.S. Open, 2011 Wimbledon and the 2011 U.S. Open. In February 2010, fellow ESPN colleague

Tony Kornheiser Anthony Irwin Kornheiser (; born July 13, 1948) is an American television sports talk show host and former Sports journalism, sportswriter and columnist. Kornheiser is best known for his endeavors in three forms of media: as a writer for ''The Wa ...

criticized her outfit that day on his radio show, saying that her outfit looked like "a sausage casing", and was suspended from ESPN for two weeks. He later apologized to her via a 15-minute phone conversation. Beginning on April 3, 2010, Storm would host '' ESPN Sports Saturday'', a show on corporate sibling ABC similar to that network's classic sports series, '' Wide World of Sports''. In June 2010, alongside fellow anchor

Stuart Scott Stuart Orlando Scott (July 19, 1965 – January 4, 2015) was an American Sports commentator, sportscaster and anchor on ESPN, including on ''SportsCenter''. Known for his hip-hop style and use of catchphrases, Scott was also a regular for the ...

, Storm provided pregame coverage for the

2010 NBA Finals The 2010 NBA Finals was the NBA Finals, championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2009–10 NBA season, 2009–10 season and conclusion of 2010 NBA playoffs, the season's playoffs, held from June 3 to 17, 2010. A best-of ...

between the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

and

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

. She later became host of the '' NBA Countdown'' pregame show for the 2010–2011 season, alternating with

, until the 2011–12 NBA season. When Scott died in 2015, Storm was tasked with announcing the news on ''

''. She nearly broke down during the segment. On August 10, 2016, she also announced the death of another colleague, John Saunders, while airing live from

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

coverage in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Amazon Prime

In 2018, Storm and Andrea Kremer became the first female duo to call an NFL game, which they did for an

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

stream of '' Thursday Night Football''.

Personal life

On January 8, 1994, Storm married sportscaster Dan Hicks. The couple have three daughters together. Storm is Catholic. Storm was born with a large port-wine stain birthmark under her left eye which she talks about publicly in order to raise awareness about the condition. In 2008 Storm created the Hannah Storm Foundation, which raises awareness and provides treatment for children suffering from debilitating and disfiguring vascular birthmarks. She also sits on the boards of the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

, Colgate Women's Sports Awards, 21st Century Kids 1st Foundation, and has done extensive work with the

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to co ...

, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Boys and Girls Club,

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Ol ...

, the Women's Sports Foundation, Vascular Birthmark Institute,

and the Diocese of Bridgeport. Storm also founded ''Brainstormin' Productions'' for the creation of educational and inspirational programming. In May 2011, Storm received "Celebrated Mom" award from LifeWorx, Inc.,

Chappaqua, New York Chappaqua ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. It is approximately north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metr ...

. This award is given to a mother who inspires others, in spite of career and family challenges. ''Notre Dame Inspirations'' funds a journalism scholarship in her name at her alma mater. Storm has also contributed extensively to several magazines, including ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'', '' Nick Jr.'', ''

Family Circle ''Family Circle'' was an American women's magazine that covered topics such as homemaking, recipes and health. It was published from 1932 until the end of 2019. Originally distributed at supermarkets, it was one of the " Seven Sisters," a grou ...

'', ''

Child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

'' and '' Notre Dame Magazine''.

Accidental burning

On December 11, 2012, Storm sustained second-degree burns to her chest and hands, and first-degree burns to her neck and face resulting from a propane-gas grill accident at her home. Her 15-year-old daughter alerted authorities to the accident. Storm lost her eyebrows, eyelashes and roughly half her hair. After receiving medical care from the Burn Center at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, Storm returned to the air January 1, 2013, co-hosting the Rose Parade on ABC while wearing a bandage on her left hand and sporting hair extensions, and returned to ''SportsCenter'' on January 13, 2013, to host the Sunday-morning edition with Bob Ley.

Career timeline

*1989–1992: '' CNN Sports Tonight'' Anchor *1995, 1997, 1999:

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

Host *1997–2002: ''

NBA on NBC Television broadcasts of the National Basketball Association (NBA) games produced by NBC Sports has aired on American broadcast network NBC under the ''NBA on NBC'' branding throughout three incarnations in its history. The NBA was first telev ...

'' Host *1997: ''WNBA on NBC'' Play-by-Play *2002–2007: ''

'' Co-Host *2008–present: ''

'' Anchor *2010–2011: '' NBA Countdown'' Host *2018–present:

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

Thursday Night Football, Play-by-Play *Hannah Storm Received the "Celebrated Mom" Award from LifeWorx, Inc, Chappaqua, NY in May 2011.

Bibliography

*''Notre Dame Inspirations: The University's Most Successful Alumni Talk About Life, Spirituality, Football and Everything Else Under the Dome'', Doubleday, 2006. *''Go Girl! Raising Healthy Confident and Successful Daughters through Sports'', Sourcebooks, 2002 and 2011

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Storm, Hannah 1962 births Living people 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics American golf commentators American radio DJs American television sports announcers American tennis commentators American women radio hosts American women sports commentators Catholics from Georgia (U.S. state) Catholics from Illinois Catholics from Texas CBS News people CNN people College football announcers ESPN people Figure skating commentators Houston Astros announcers Houston Rockets announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters NBA broadcasters NFL announcers Olympic Games broadcasters Mass media people from Atlanta Mass media people from Houston People from Oak Park, Illinois Sportswriters from Illinois University of Notre Dame alumni The Westminster Schools alumni Women's National Basketball Association announcers