Robert Lee (sports announcer)

Robert Lee
Born	1976 or 1977 (age 47–48)
Education	BS (Broadcast Journalism)
Alma mater	Syracuse University
Occupation	sports announcer
Years active	2000-present
Employer(s)	ESPN, Time Warner and Siena College
Children	1
Sports commentary career
Genre	Play-by-play
Sport(s)	College Football, College basketball, High School football

Robert Lee is an American sportscaster for ESPN.^[1]

Early life

From 1995 to 1999, Lee attended Syracuse University. He received his B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Early career

Lee was formally the Assistant Sports Information Director for Siena College. He was the main primary television, newspaper and radio media contact for seven of Siena's athletic programs.^[2] Lee was also a daily television show host for Capital OTB during 2012 Saratoga horse racing season. There he conducted interviews with trainers, jockeys and other horse professionals.

Sports broadcasting

Since 2000, Lee has been the play-by-play announcer for Siena's Men’s Basketball team on television and radio. He also hosted a weekly radio show with interviews with Siena's basketball coaches. As well as calling men's basketball for Siena's Men's Basketball team, Lee also is an announcer for Time Warner and ESPN. Lee started announcing football and basketball games for Time Warner in 2003 and for ESPN in 2016. In his time at ESPN, Lee has called games online for ESPN 3 or on national television for ESPNU. Lee has called games for conferences including the Big South, MAAC, Ohio Valley Conference, ACC, American Athletic Conference and the A-10. He has also called several FCS football playoff games.^[3]

Removal from University of Virginia game assignment

In August 2017, after the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee turned violent, ESPN removed Lee from covering the September 2 football game at the William&Mary-Virginia game in Charlottesville, reassigning him to the Youngstown State-Pittsburgh game.^[1][4] The decision was leaked to Clay Travis's website Outkick the Coverage,^[5][6] and had some ridicule on social media.^[7] ESPN released a statement saying the assignment switch came "simply because of the coincidence of his name."^[4]

Personal life

Lee currently lives in Albany, New York with his wife and daughter. He is fluent in Mandarin.^[8]

References

1. de Menezes, Jack (August 23, 2017). "ESPN remove Asian-American presenter Robert Lee from Charlottesville game as name is same as Confederate general". The Independent. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
2. Pete Dougherty (August 22, 2017). "Ex-Siena announcer pulled off ESPN assignment because of his name — Robert Lee". Times Union. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
3. "Robert Lee, ESPN Announcer: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. August 23, 2017. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
4. Gentille, Sean (August 23, 2017). "Robert Lee, pulled off UVA game, is coming to Pittsburgh". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
5. Stelter, Brian (August 23, 2017). "Robert Lee: ESPN under fire for taking announcer off UVA game". CNN. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
6. Travis, Clay (August 22, 2017). "MSESPN Pulls Asian Announcer Named Robert Lee Off UVa Game To Avoid Offending Idiots". Outkick the Coverage. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
7. "ESPN reassigns commentator Robert Lee over 'name coincidence'". BBC. August 23, 2017. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
8. "Robert Lee". Linkedin.com. August 23, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2017.