Skip Bayless

Background

John Edward Bayless II, popularly known as Skip Bayless, is an American sports commentator whose perspective has set him apart. He’s a Sagittarius, born on December 4, 1951, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His father, John Sr., gave Bayless the nickname ‘Skip.’ The name stuck so much that he was never called John by his parents. Bayless was interested in sports at an early age. He loved playing baseball and basketball and attended Northwest Classen High School, graduating in 1970. Bayless became a sports columnist for the school newspaper in his junior and senior years. He earned the Grantland Rice Scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University, which he accepted and majored in English and History. Bayless graduated cum laude in 1974.

After graduation, Bayless was hired by The Miami Herald and wrote sports features for the newspaper for over two years. In August 1976, he took a position at the Los Angeles Times, and in 1977, he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Newspaper Writing. When he turned 26, Bayless was hired by The Dallas Morning News as a lead sports columnist. The columnist took his writing skills to the next level by publishing his first book, “God’s Coach: The Hymns, Hype, and Hypocrisy of Tom Landry’s Cowboys,” in 1989. In 1998, he left Dallas and became Chicago Tribune’s lead sports columnist. Before this, Bayless had a radio stint with the ESPN Radio show “The Fabulous Sports Babe.” In 2004, ESPN hired him full-time to host a daily T.V. segment with Woody Paige. This segment was renamed “First Take,” and he parted ways with the network in June 2016. That year, Bayless teamed up with Shannon Sharpe and debuted their show, “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed,” which is available on Fox Sports 1. In 2021, the T.V. host signed a four-year contract worth $32 million with Fox Sports.

Bayless is a phenomenal sports columnist, commentator, and T.V. host. Bayless’ personal affairs are private, but he married Ernestine Sclafani in 2016. and the pair do not have children. Bayless was married before this, but he got a divorce. He shares his success with his friends and family.