Jonathan Scott Crispin (born January 19, 1981) is a basketball analyst and color commentator 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 ...

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 ...

and

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

. In college, he played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

and

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

.UCLA player biography
. Retrieved on June 30, 2008.

Early years

Personal

Jon was born to parents Steven and Susan Crispin in

Pitman, New Jersey Pitman is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 8,780, a decrease of 231 (−2.6%) from the 2010 Un ...

, and has a brother and two sisters. His older brother is former high school and Penn State teammate

Joe Crispin Joseph Steven Crispin (born July 18, 1979) is an American college men's basketball assistant coach at Penn State University. He was previously head coach of the Rowan University Profs from 2016 to 2023. Crispin was born at Underwood-Memorial ...

. Joe had a brief

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 ...

career. His father Steve played football at Villanova. Jon's grandfather Cliff was a two-sport (baseball and basketball) athlete at

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

(1957–59) and played in the 1958 Final Four. Cliff also owns the

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

state high school boys' basketball single game scoring record of 79, set in 1956.Basketball Single-Game Scoring Records
Retrieved on June 30, 2008.

Pitman High School

Crispin attended his hometown

Pitman High School Pitman High School is a comprehensive community public high school in Pitman, in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Pitman School District. ...

from 1995 to 1999. He became a four-year starter on the varsity basketball team, two of which were alongside his older brother Joe. As a senior, he earned an "All-Group All-State" second-team honor. For three straight years he earned Group I All-State honors. During his prep basketball career, Crispin led the Panthers to two conference titles, two South Jersey crowns and two Group I NJ State Championships (1997 & 1998). As a junior in 1998, Jon scored a school-record 62 points (21–35 FG, 12–19 threes) in a South Jersey Group I playoff game versus

Penns Grove High School Penns Grove High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school that serves students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades from Carneys Point Towns ...

. He eventually ended his prep career as fourth on Gloucester County's all-time scoringAs of June 2008 charts after collecting 2,319 points.A pop with 'Pop' – NJ.com
Retrieved on June 30, 2008. His brother Joe finished top in Gloucester County history after having scored 2,651 points. Jon was a multi-sport star, also having lettered twice in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and three times in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. He was All- Tri-County Conference in football twice and once in baseball. Jon received multiple high-major Division I offers for football and garnered significant attention from MLB scouts as a pitcher.

College

Penn State

Jon followed older brother Joe to play basketball for the Nittany Lions in

State College State College is a borough and home rule municipality in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a college town, home to the University Park campus of The Pennsylvania State University. State College is the largest designated borou ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. As a true freshman (1999–2000) he started 22 of 31 games played.Go PSU Sports – 1999–2000 men’s basketball season statistics
Retrieved on June 30, 2008. Jon finished the season as the team's fourth highest scorer (9.3 ppg / 228 total) despite missing four games in February due to a foot stress fracture. As a sophomore (2000–01), Crispin started 31 of 33 games but averaged a diminished 7.2 points. He was fifth in scoring (7.2 / 236)
Retrieved on June 30, 2008. and most of his statistics dipped a little from his freshman season. Jon's best performance came when he scored a career-high 26 points in the Nittany Lions' 73–68 upset at

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

on November 25, 2000 in the Wildcats' home opener. He was also a starter throughout the

2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball for the 2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball seas ...

and helped Penn State reach the Sweet 16. The 84–72 loss against Temple would be the last time he and Joe would ever play as high school or collegiate teammates.

UCLA

Jon decided to transfer to the national basketball powerhouse

prior to the start of his junior season. Due to

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

transfer eligibility rules, Crispin was forced to sit out the 2001–02 season. After becoming eligible for his red-shirted junior season in 2002–03, Crispin played in 23 games (one start) while averaging 2.3 points. His 37.9 three-point percentage ranked second on the team while his 90.0 free throw percentage ranked first. He was voted Lindy's Number 3 College Basketball Transfer in the nation prior to the season. Jon Crispin's final college season (2003–04) had him see action in only nine total games, two of which were starts. UCLA Bruins Sports – 2003–2004 men’s basketball season statistics
Retrieved on June 30, 2008. He scored 18 points all season for a 2.0 per game average. However, Jon was awarded the Elvin C. Ducky Drake Memorial Award, presented annually to "the member of the UCLA basketball team selected for his competitive spirit, inspiration and unselfish contribution to the team."UCLA Bruins men’s basketball media guide
''(page 109)''. Retrieved on June 30, 2008.

Post-college

After college, Jon spent two years playing professional basketball overseas (in Spain and Ireland), as well as in the ABA in the States. During and following his professional playing career, Jon was filmed in numerous television commercials including Ruby Tuesday's, Nike, and Coca-Cola, as well as modeled for print advertisements. When he resided in Los Angeles, California, Jon began his broadcasting career working for

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

, Time Warner SportsNet, the

Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of College athletics, collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news ...

, and

as a radio show host, college basketball analyst, and in-game color commentator. Jon previously served as the lead basketball analyst and color commentator for the

in Chicago, Illinois. He now is a color commentator for ESPN,

and

References

External links

CrispinBasketball.comJon Crispin’s Coca-Cola commercial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crispin, Jon 1981 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Ireland American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Basketball players from Gloucester County, New Jersey College basketball announcers in the United States Male models from New Jersey Penn State Nittany Lions basketball players People from Pitman, New Jersey Pitman High School alumni Point guards Shooting guards UCLA Bruins men's basketball players