The multi-talented Sarah Spain is not only an award-winning sports journalist but an athlete and true sports fan herself. She is the host of her own national ESPN Radio show, “Spain and Fitz,” and her own podcast, “That’s What She Said.” She appears regularly as a panelist on ESPN’s “Around the Horn,” “Highly Questionable,” “Outside The Lines,” and “SportsCenter,” and writes a column for espnW. She is also a co-owner of the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Sarah Colby Spain was born in 1980 in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Lake Forest, Illinois. She participated in sports year-round from junior high throughout college. She earned All-Conference, All-Area, and All-State distinctions in high school for basketball, field hockey, and track, and went on to be a heptathlete and co-captain of the track and field team at Cornell University.
At Cornell, Spain majored in English and initially had the goal of becoming an actress. She was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Golden Key National Honor Society.
While living in Los Angeles and participating in improv groups to improve her acting skills, Spain took a sports-reporting class. A dream was born and she decided to carve out a space in the male-dominated industry to prove that women had a voice when it comes to sports journalism. Her journey was, unfortunately, typical for a woman.
“I had some bad experiences early on,” she said in an interview with BVMSports. “PR and other reporters would assume I was a moron, I wasn’t qualified, I was trying to sleep with the players or any of the stupid stuff you hear about. I had to be thick-skinned about it, put my head down, and work as hard as possible.”
Spain’s dedication continues to pay off. She won a Peabody Award for her work in "More Than Mean," which highlights the hardships, including threats of rape and death, female sportscasters face simply for doing their jobs. She has received Sports Emmy Awards, the Gracie Award, and landed on Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40” list.
Spain is also dedicated to giving back to her community. She volunteers at the dog shelter and charity “Peace for Pits,” and has her own charity “Hear the Cheers,” which provides hearing aids and equipment to kids so they can participate in sports.