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When network sports television began airing in the mid-to-late 1940s, it was an entirely male-dominated medium. The very idea of ​​women being included when it comes to talking about sports on TV was considered ridiculous at the time.

For nearly 30 years this trend continued and it was not until 1975 that women played a prominent role in network sports broadcasting.

Since then, literally hundreds of women have graced the network airwaves with varying degrees of success. Some were considered mere “eye candy” while others won awards and became critical successes.

Here is a list of 12 women who have made a special mark in sports and have paved the way for female sports broadcasters.

Jayne Kennedy – Jayne Kennedy became the first African-American woman to host a network sports television broadcast, replacing Phyllis George on The NFL Today in 1978.

In July 1981, she became the first African-American celebrity/actor to grace the cover of Playboy magazine.

In recent years, Kennedy has served as a spokesperson for the Children's Miracle Network, which has raised millions of dollars for various children's hospitals across the country.

Phyllis George – Phyllis George was the winner of the Miss America pageant in 1971 and was invited to join CBS as a sportscaster in 1974.

The following year, George was promoted to the cast of The NFL Today, becoming one of the first women to play a prominent role in television sports coverage. Joining Brent Musberger, Irv Cross, and Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, George thrived in the role for several years before becoming the permanent anchor of CBS Morning News.

Gayle Gardner – Gayle Gardner began working for ESPN in 1983 as a SportsCenter anchor, becoming one of the first women to regularly anchor the nightly network 스포츠중계. Gardner later moved to NBC and spent six years on NFL Live! with Bob Costas and Ahmad Rashad.

In 1993, Gardner became the first woman to broadcast a baseball game play-by-play, calling game action between the Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies.

Leslie Visser – The Boston Globe's accomplished sports reporter, Leslie Visser, rose to national prominence in 1984 when she joined CBS as a part-time reporter.

Visser is the only sportscaster in men's and women's history to have appeared in the Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Monday Night Football, Super Bowl, Olympics, and US Open Network broadcasts.

She has been voted the greatest female sportscaster in history and received the 2006 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Football.

Visser has long been married to national sportscaster Dick Stockton. The two met during Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds, where Stockton was covering the game for NBC Sports and the assistant was covering the game for the Boston Globe.

Mary Carillo – Mary Carillo was a former women's professional tennis player before a knee injury cut her career in 1980. Carillo started working for USA Network, working as an analyst for major professional tennis tournaments. Over the next 30 years, Carillo won numerous awards for his coverage of tennis and is generally regarded as the sport's foremost analyst.