Table of Biography
John Edward “Skip” Bayless II is a sports columnist, commentator, and television personality from the United States. Skip Bayless is best known as a commentator on ESPN2‘s First Take with Stephen A. Smith, which he left in June 2016. Furthermore, on September 6, 2016, Bayless debuted his new show Skip and Shannon: Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe on Fox Sports 1.
Early Life
Skip Bayless was born in Oklahoma City, United States on December 4, 1951. His real name is John Edward Bayless. He is 72 years old (as of 2023) under the zodiac sign Sagittarius. Bayless holds American nationality and follows the Christian religion.
Caption: Skip Bayless childhood photo source: Fox Sports.
Regarding her family background, Bayless was born to John Sr., who ran the Hickory House restaurant with his wife. His father nicknamed him “Skip” shortly after his birth, referring to the “skipper of the ship.” Everyone started calling him “Skip” after that. He also has a younger brother named Rick Bayless, a celebrity chef, restaurateur, and TV personality.
Skip Bayless – Education
Speaking of his educational background, Bayless completed his secondary education at Northwest Classen High School. Later, he enrolled at Vanderbilt University through the Grantland Rice Scholarship to further his education.
Skip Bayless – Career and Professional Life
Talking about his career, At the beginning of his career, Bayless wrote sports columns for “The Miami Herald.” He began working as a sports investigative columnist for the “Los Angeles Times” in 1976. In that capacity, he looked into the media-hyped conflict involving the “Los Angeles Dodgers,” their star player Steve Garvey, and his famous wife Cyndy.
Additionally, Bayless looked into Carroll Rosenbloom’s choice to rotate the quarterback position each week as the owner of the American football team “Los Angeles Rams.” After spending three years as a sports columnist for “The Dallas Morning News,” Bayless went on to work for “The Dallas Times Herald.”
Bayless started doing a sports program on the Dallas radio station KLIF in 1991. The show ran for two years. The year after that, he took part in discussions about national sports for the “Knights of the Roundtable” episodes of “NFL Prime Monday.” After working for the “Dallas Times Herald” for three years, Bayless spent three years doing sports columns for “The Dallas Morning News.” On the Dallas radio station KLIF, Bayless started broadcasting a sports program in 1991. For two years, the show ran.
He took part in national sports debates for “NFL Prime Monday’s” “Knights of the Roundtable” portions the following year. The Fabulous Sports Babe, the first program on “ESPN Radio,” featured Bayless on several occasions at that time. After that, he relocated to Chicago, where he began to guest-host on the “Sporting News Radio” show “Coppock On Sports.”
Caption: Bayless with Stephen A. Smith and Cari Champion during a First Take broadcast at McGuire Air Force Base in 2014 source: Wikiwand.
More about his career
Bayless made multiple appearances on the “Fox Sports” program “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” and was a frequent guest on the Jim Rome-hosted “Fox Sports Net” program “The Last Word” in the years 2001 and 2002.
In 2003, Bayless appeared frequently on Jim Rome’s chat show “Rome is Burning,” which was broadcast on “ESPN,” and he co-hosted the “Old School/Nu Skool” debate portion of the sports news program “SportsCenter” with Stephen A. Smith.
The next year, Bayless joined sportswriter Woody Paige in hosting the “ESPN2” morning show “Cold Pizza” full-time. Additionally, he started penning pieces for ESPN.com. Bayless worked as an analyst for ‘First Take’ on the ‘ESPN’ talk show from 2007 through 2016. He took a vacation from contributing to the network’s website in between.
He did return, though, in August 2012. As his contract with the network was coming to an end, Bayless shot his final episode of “First Take” in June 2016. He subsequently joined “Fox Sports.” He and Shannon Sharpe co-hosted the chat show “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed” for “Fox Sports 1” beginning in September 2016.
Skip Bayless – Net Worth 2024
Skip Bayless has earned a huge amount of money through his hard work and brilliance. His estimated net worth is around $17 Million as of 2022.
Awards and Achievements
In 1977, his coverage of the American Thoroughbred racehorse “Seattle Slew’s” Triple Crown victory earned him the ‘Eclipse Award’ for ‘Outstanding Newspaper Writing.’ The ‘National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’ named Bayless ‘Texas Sportswriter of the Year’ in 1979, 1984, and 1986.
While at the ‘Chicago Tribune,’ he received the ‘Lisagor Award’ for excellence in sports column writing from the ‘Chicago Headline Club.’ Moreover, In 2000, the ‘National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’ named him ‘Illinois Sportswriter of the Year.’ Bayless was inducted into the ‘Oklahoma City Wall of Fame’ in 2008.
The following year, he was inducted into the Vanderbilt Student Media Hall of Fame. In 2012, he was nominated for a ‘Sports Emmy Award’ for ‘Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio Analyst.’ The same year, he and DJ Steve Porter shared the ‘Webby People’s Voice Award’ for their mashup video ‘All He Does Is Win.’
Personal Life
Regarding his love life, Skip Bayless is married to public relations expert, Ernestine Scalfani Bayless. They met for the first time on the sets of ‘Cold Pizza’ in 2005. After dating for a long time, the pair tied the wedding knot on July 28, 2016. The duo is yet to have children.
Caption: Skip Bayless with his wife Ernestine Scalfani Bayless source: Yahoo.
Body Measurements
Skip Bayless is handsome, undoubtedly. He has a perfect height of about 5 feet 8 inches (178 cm) and weighs about 80 kg (176 lbs). In addition, Bayless has a hazel pair of eyes and brown hair color.
Social Media
Regarding his social media presence, Skip Bayless is active on his Instagram account @skipbayless with 470K followers. Moreover, Bayless also has 3.2 million followers on Twitter and 507K followers on Facebook.