Television is an intimate medium. We allow strangers into our homes, and if those on-screen stay with us long enough, they become part of our daily routine. This was the strength of the “SportsCenter” franchise for many years — the familiarity of familiar faces.
One of those was Neil Everett, who worked at ESPN for 23 years. His partnership with Stan Verrett — the two worked together out of Los Angeles since 2009 and did the late-night edition — made them among the longest-running “SportsCenter” duos ever. Everett was among the prominent on-air names who are leaving the Walt Disney Company as it continues to reduce salary expenses. Disney has put immense pressure on ESPN to cut costs, and management has cut high-profile salaries via layoffs (most notably, NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy) or not re-signing talent. As part of a recent conversation with Everett — you can hear the whole interview here — he discussed leaving ESPN, his work with the Portland Trail Blazers and what he hopes comes next.
How are you feeling right now in terms of everything that’s happened with your professional life in the last 30 days?
I feel great. I guess it would be irony, not coincidence, that July 9 was my separation date from ESPN. My first contract was July 10, 2000. That was my first day at ESPN. I’m doing fabulous, man. There’s so many stories out there to be told. There’s so many gigs out there to be had. There’s so much to do there. I mean, I went to Neil Young earlier this week on a day I probably would have been working. I’m going to the Dead & Company in San Francisco on Friday, and for sure I would have been working. I feel great. I had a wonderful time. All good things come to an end eventually, and it was a good thing. But the time for it had come, and I’m just excited about the future.
From your perspective, why are you no longer working at ESPN?
I would probably guess that my value to them was not what it needed to be for them to keep me there.
Kenny Mayne is a friend of yours, and he was very specific with me about what happened with him. He told me ESPN offered him a 61 percent reduction in salary combined with a 14 percent reduction in work time. He found that to be a deal that he did not want to do. Did ESPN offer you some kind of deal to stay at a reduced salary?
There are similarities in Kenny’s story and mine. Mine dates back to two years ago. So two years ago, I agreed to take less and work less. To take much less. And work less. So I knew the writing was on the wall. For these last two years, I’ve been laying the track to other things. That’s where the Portland Trail Blazers job came in, and what a blessing that they invited me onto their bench with their talented people up in Portland. That’s the team I grew up rooting for, and how many kids get to realize that? My dad took me to Trail Blazers games in the mid-1970s. … And now I’m getting to be part of that team. But to your question: I saw the writing on the wall. I chose to write my own narrative before they tried to write it for me.
Many people don’t have the opportunity to exit on their terms. Do you feel you did?
I feel like I did it on my own terms, 100 percent.
After 23 years at ESPN, Neil Everett says his goodbye to SportsCenter alongside his longtime partner, Stan Verrett.pic.twitter.com/hBBcTYAPyP
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) June 24, 2023
You worked the last couple of years as a television studio host for the Trail Blazers, mostly on road games. You did the pregame, the (halftime) and post-game coverage. That’s an incredible basketball city. They have some things on their plate at the moment. Where does that stand in terms of your interest and their interest in coming back?
Well, my interest is huge. I’ve had a conversation with one of the executives there, and I think there’s still interest there. Like you said, there’s the business at hand with Damian Lillard. This is a Damian Lillard story. I only do the away games and people will ask, “How’s Damian Lillard?” I’m like, “I don’t know, I haven’t met him.” I know Chauncey Billups because he worked with us at ESPN. I met (Jusuf Nurkić) once because he came to ESPN. But I’ve never met Anfernee Simons or Jerami Grant.
For the folks who don’t know, Bill Schonely was the voice of the Blazers forever. He’s the one who came up with “Rip City.” A great guy. So he passed away and we’re at a memorial service for him. Damian Lillard is there, and my wife and I are there. Lillard is kind of standing by himself, and my wife says, “Go over and introduce yourself.” I’m like, “No, no, I don’t want to bother him.” She’s like, “Just go over there.” So she talked me into going over there. It’s funny because the red light goes on and you’re a “SportsCenter” host or a Portland Trail Blazer host, the red light goes on and people think, “Man, look at what an extrovert that person is, delivering and doing this in front of a camera.” I’m an introvert by nature. When the red light is on, I’m going in fifth gear. When the red lights are off, I’m in second, and second might be a stretch.
But anyhow, Lillard’s over there. So, finally, I go over and say, “Hey, Dame, Neil Everett.” He says, “I know who you are.” I said, “I’ve never met you.” He says, “We have met.” I’m like, “Oh my God, I don’t remember this. You have to tell me when.” He said it was his rookie year and we were in Eugene and we met at a bar that has since been shuttered called Taylor’s. I said, “Dame, that was your rookie year and it was at a bar. I’m going to give myself a pass on not remembering that one, but I’ll never forget this one.”
It sounds like Dame is on his way out of town. That’s going to be a tough one for all of Portland to live with. He’s done wonderful things while he’s been there. Him, (Bill) Walton and Clyde Drexler are the three greatest Blazers ever. It’s been a blessing working with the Trail Blazers, and there’s hope that I get to do that again this year.
You lived in Hawaii for nearly two decades, including working in television there as well as at a college. Every person I ever met from Hawaii or has spent time in Hawaii, it always feels like they have a different outlook on life than the rest of us. What is it about life and covering sports there?
I was there from 1985 to 2000 and had this ESPN gig not come about, I would still be there. For me personally, Hawaii saved my life. My mom had passed away a couple of years earlier, and I was in my early 20s. I was running away from the pain of her death to a place I’d visited in 1982 for a month with a college friend of mine. I was like, “Why doesn’t everybody live here?” They call it the mana. It’s just the vibe, the feel, the energy, and whether you embrace it and whether it embraces you too. We always put it at three years. If you last three years in Hawaii, you could stay for as long as you want. But those first three years are going to be rough because there is the isolation. I remember when I was living there, my grandma died, and I couldn’t make it back to the mainland. I just didn’t have the funds to come to her funeral.
But it saved my life. It changed my life. I’m forever indebted to Hawaii for what she did for me. It’s an energy thing. I don’t think it’s something you can really quantify verbally. The ocean is a healer. The sun is a healer. Nature is a healer. The people I met opened their arms and accepted me into their ‘ohana (family). It allowed me to be part of their greater good.
There are so many people who have found great success and professional happiness post-ESPN, from Trey Wingo to Mike Golic. Dan Patrick is obviously the patron saint of all of this. Have you reflected upon that, seeing others achieve it?
I thought about that on the way out, but each man or woman, we pave our own road. Dan Patrick, as you mentioned, he’s set the bar. But he still works a ton. I don’t want to work a ton anymore. I worked a ton for ESPN. I think Stan (Verrett) and I did more shows together than any pair in “SportsCenter” history. Pre-pandemic here in L.A., we worked five nights a week, months at a time. Now it’s more like a three-night-a-week gig or sometimes four or five. But I’m 61 years old now. I’ve got a young wife and there’s a lot of fun to be had out there that was displaced for work. I didn’t make a killing there financially, but I did well enough. I’ve saved well enough that we can have some fun. There’s jobs to be had but there’s also life to be lived. What’s important to me is striking the proper balance of those two things as I enter this next phase of my life.
If you think you know Wilt Chamberlain, you don’t. “Goliath,” a three-part documentary on Wilt Chamberlain debuting on Showtime later this week, is the best sports doc I’ve watched in 2023. I wrote about it on Monday.
(Photo of Everett in 2016: Aric Becker / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
