Pam Oliver (born ) is an American sportscaster known for her work on the sidelines for various

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) and

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 ...

(NFL) games.

Early life and education

Oliver was born in Dallas, Texas. She attended Niceville High School in Niceville, Florida, where she excelled in

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 ...

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 ...

, and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. At

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. ...

, she was an All-American in both the 400-meter and the mile relay.

Professional career

Oliver began her broadcasting career at

WALB WALB (channel 10) is a television station in Albany, Georgia, United States, serving Southwest Georgia, Southwestern Georgia as an affiliate of NBC and American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power broadcasti ...

Albany, Georgia Albany ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Located on the Flint River, it is the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, Dougherty County, and is the sole incorporated city in that county. Located in Southwest Geo ...

in 1985 as a news reporter. The next year, Oliver moved to WAAY-TV in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...

. After that stop, Oliver moved to

WIVB-TV WIVB-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside The CW, CW owned-and-operated station WNLO (TV), WNLO (channel 23). WIVB-TV and WNLO share studios ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

in 1988. Two years later in 1990, Oliver moved to WTVT in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, where she began her career as a sports anchor in 1991. Oliver moved to

KHOU-TV KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). The two stations share studios on Westheimer Road near ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, where she continued to be a sports anchor. In 1993, Oliver joined

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 ...

. In 1995, Oliver joined

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 ...

, where she worked as a sideline reporter with the network's number-one broadcast team,

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American professional American football, football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS Sports, CBS, Fox Sports (USA), Fox, and ESPN Sunday Night Football, ESP ...

and John Madden. In 2005, Oliver joined TNT as a sideline reporter for their NBA Playoffs coverage and worked as a Sideline Reporter for the NBA Playoffs on TNT until 2009. On July 14, 2014, Fox moved her to the network's #2 NFL broadcasting team, while

Erin Andrews Erin Jill Andrews (born May 4, 1978) is an American sportscaster and television personality. She rose to prominence as a correspondent on the American cable sports channel ESPN after joining the network in 2004. She later joined Fox Sports in 2 ...

took over as sideline reporter on the #1 crew. In early 2015, Fox extended Oliver's sideline reporting job with the #2 team through the 2016 season. Oliver has continued in that role as of the 2024 season. She was the #2 team for most of the 2023 season; however, in Week 6 of the 2023 NFL, she was the #3 team for the Lions-Buccaneers game along with Adam Amin and

Daryl Johnston Daryl Peter "Moose" Johnston (born February 10, 1966) is an American former professional American football, football player (running back/Fullback (gridiron football), fullback) who is currently the executive vice president of football operati ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Pam Living people African-American television personalities American television sports announcers Florida A&M Lady Rattlers track and field athletes NBA broadcasters NFL announcers American women sports commentators Track and field athletes from Dallas People from Fort Walton Beach, Florida American female sprinters Florida A&M University alumni African-American track and field athletes African-American women journalists African-American sports journalists African-American sports announcers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen 20th-century African-American people Year of birth missing (living people)