John Saunders (journalist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Saunders
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Saunders providing play-by-play for University of Kentucky's 2015 Blue-White scrimmage
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| Born | February 2, 1955 |
| Died | August 10, 2016 (aged 61) |
| Citizenship | Canada United States of America |
| Education | Western Michigan University (1974-76) Ryerson University (1976-78) |
| Occupation | Sports journalist, television personality, commentator, announcer |
| Years active | 1977–2016 |
| Employer | The Walt Disney Company |
| Television | SportsCenter NFL Primetime Baseball Night in America NBA Shootaround The Sports Reporters |
| Spouse(s) | Wanda Saunders (1987–2016) |
| Children | 2 |
John Peterson Saunders (February 2, 1955 – August 10, 2016) was a well-known sports journalist from Canada and the United States. He worked for major sports networks like ESPN and ABC for 30 years. Many people knew him for hosting popular sports shows and covering big games. He was a familiar face in sports broadcasting from 1986 until he passed away in 2016.
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John Saunders' Early Life and Career
John Saunders grew up loving sports. He was a talented ice hockey player in Montreal's junior leagues. He even earned a scholarship to play hockey at Western Michigan University. Later, he played for Ryerson University in Toronto. In 1978, he was named an All-Star player in his university league.
After his hockey career, John started working in broadcasting. He was a news director at a radio station in Espanola, Ontario. He then became a sports anchor at TV stations in North Bay, Ontario, and New Brunswick. He also worked in Toronto before moving to the United States in 1982. There, he became a sports anchor in Baltimore, Maryland, before joining ESPN.
John Saunders' Career at ESPN and ABC Sports
John Saunders joined ESPN in 1986. He became the host of ESPN's The Sports Reporters in 2001. Before that, he co-hosted NFL Primetime from 1987 to 1989. He also hosted NHL hockey broadcasts for ESPN and ABC from 1992 to 2004.
John was also a host for College Football on ABC from 1992 to 2015. He hosted ABC's baseball coverage, called Baseball Night in America. He even anchored the 1995 World Series for ABC.
John Saunders' memoir, Playing Hurt: My Journey from Despair to Hope, was published after he passed away in 2017. This book shares stories from his three-decade career.
John Saunders' NBA Coverage
From 2002 to 2004, John Saunders did play-by-play announcing for ESPN's NBA games. He mostly worked on Sunday nights. He was also the studio host for ESPN's NBA Shootaround from 2004 to 2006.
Saunders also filled in as a play-by-play announcer for NBA on ABC. He called many Team U.S.A. games for ESPN during the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship.
John Saunders on SportsCenter
In 2008, John Saunders began hosting the Sunday 7 p.m. ET SportsCenter show. He hosted this show during the NFL season. He worked alongside Chris Berman and analyst Tom Jackson.
John Saunders and the Toronto Raptors
John Saunders was the television play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Raptors basketball team. He worked for the Raptors from 1995 to 2001. He was later replaced by Chuck Swirsky.
John Saunders' Personal Life and Advocacy
John Saunders was a strong supporter of research for juvenile diabetes. He was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as an adult in the early 1980s. His girlfriend encouraged him to get tested at the hospital.
He was also a founding board member of the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research. This charity has raised over $200 million. All of the money goes directly to funding cancer research. John lived in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, with his wife and two children. His brother, Bernie Saunders, was a former National Hockey League player.
John Saunders' Passing
John Saunders passed away on August 10, 2016. He was 61 years old. Family members said he had not been feeling well in the days before his death. Authorities ruled out foul play.
The coroner found that John Saunders died from a combination of an enlarged heart, complications from his diabetes, and dysautonomia. Dysautonomia is a condition that affects the nervous system. This system controls important body functions like breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate. John's brain was donated to Mount Sinai School of Medicine for research, as he had requested. He was honored in the "in memoriam" segment at the 2017 ESPY Awards.
