Katie George (sportscaster)

Katie George (born December 3, 1993) is an American sportscaster who currently works with the ACC Network and ESPN. Before starting her broadcasting career, she had been a three-time all-conference selection in volleyball at the University of Louisville and Miss Kentucky USA in 2015.

Katie George
Born (1993-12-03) December 3, 1993
Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Louisville (BA)
Occupation
  • Sportscaster
Beauty pageant titleholder
TitleMiss Kentucky USA 2015
Years active2015–present
Major
competition(s)		Miss USA 2015
(Top 11)

Early life and education

George is of Lebanese descent, and her grandfather's family had emigrated from Hamat, Lebanon to Lebanon, Kentucky.[1] George attended Assumption High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Louisville, where she played on the volleyball team, being named Prep Volleyball's National Player of the Year.[2] Her grandfather on her mom's side played football at the University of Kentucky for Bear Bryant.[3]

After graduating from high school, George attended the University of Louisville (U of L), where she played for the Louisville Cardinals women's volleyball team. During her career at U of L, she played on teams that won regular-season or tournament championships in three different conferences, and was a first-team all-conference selection in two of those leagues. In her freshman season in 2012, U of L's last in the Big East Conference, the Cardinals won both the regular-season[4] and tournament titles.[5][lower-alpha 1] In the following season, the Cardinals' only season in the American Athletic Conference, U of L went unbeaten in conference play to claim the regular-season conference title (The American did not hold a postseason tournament at that time),[6] and George was named first-team all-conference.[7] George's final two years of college play in 2014 and 2015 were the first two for U of L as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). She was first-team all-ACC in both 2014 and 2015, with the Cardinals winning their first-ever ACC team title in any sport in the latter season.[8] In that same 2015 season, George was also named ACC player and setter of the year.[9] She graduated from the school magna cum laude with a degree in communications and a minor in sports administration.[10] She interned at CBS Sports in College.

Career

Pageantry

George began her career in pageantry in 2015, after being crowned Miss Kentucky USA 2015 after her college roommate and teammate encouraged her to enter the pageant.[11] As the state titleholder, she received the right to represent Kentucky at Miss USA 2015. The competition was held at Raising Cane's River Center Arena in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 12, 2015. George advanced to the semifinals as a member of the top fifteen, and later won the fan vote to advance into the top eleven. The competition was ultimately won by Olivia Jordan of Oklahoma.[12] She also competed against fellow future sportscaster Brooke Fletcher of Georgia.

George completed her reign the following year, after crowning Kyle Hornback as her successor.[13]

Sports reporting

George began a career as a sportscaster after completing her bachelor's degree in 2015, being hired as a reporter at WDRB, a local station in Louisville, Kentucky.[14] She later joined Fox Sports Wisconsin to cover the Milwaukee Bucks for the 2018–19 NBA season, before joining the new ACC Network in 2019.[15] She also covered some college football games for ESPN. She joined ESPN full-time in 2021[16]

Footnotes
  1. Following the 2013 split of the Big East Conference, the schools that played football in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) began operating as the American Athletic Conference (The American) under the original league charter. The non-FBS schools now operate as the Big East Conference after having purchased the rights to the "Big East" name. The current Big East considers the original Big East as part of its competitive history, while The American considers its competitive history (as opposed to its institutional history) to have started in July 2013.

References
  1. Stahlman, Andrea (July 2, 2015). "By George, She's Got It!". Voice Tribune.
  2. Dominique Yates. "After idolizing Erin Andrews as a kid, Katie George gets national shot with ACC Network". courier-journal.com. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
  3. Matt Mueller (17 October 2018). "Milwaukee Talks: Bucks sideline reporter Katie George". onmilwaukee.com. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  4. "All-Time Standings" (PDF). 2021 Big East Women's Volleyball Record Book. p. 2. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  5. "All-Time Big East Tournament Champions" (PDF). 2021 Big East Women's Volleyball Record Book. p. 17. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  6. "Year-By-Year Results" (PDF). 2021 Women's Volleyball Record Book. American Athletic Conference. pp. 1–2. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  7. "All-Conference Team" (PDF). 2021 Women's Volleyball Record Book. American Athletic Conference. p. 7. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  8. "Louisville Wins 2015 ACC Volleyball Title" (Press release). Atlantic Coast Conference. November 28, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  9. "ACC Volleyball Individual Honors" (PDF). 2020 ACC Record Book. Atlantic Coast Conference. pp. 435–38. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  10. "Former Louisville Volleyball Player Katie George Joins ACC Network". theacc.com. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  11. Ashley Scoby (22 January 2015). "How Katie George Became A Setting Machine And A Beauty Queen". espn.com. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  12. "Olivia Jordan is Miss USA 2015". pageantsnews.com. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  13. "Katie George". missuniverse.com. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  14. "Former U of L volleyball player, WDRB reporter Katie George joins ESPN's ACC Network". wdrb.com. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  15. JR Radcliffe and Matt Velazquez. "Bucks new sideline reporter Katie George was star volleyball player, Miss Kentucky". jsonline.com. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  16. Amanda Brooks (10 August 2022). "ESPN's Industry-Leading College Football Coverage to Feature a Mix of Veteran Commentators and Newcomers for 2022-23 Season". espnpressroom.com. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
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