Sage Steele

Sage Marie Steele (born November 28, 1972) is an American television anchor who hosts the Friday, Saturday & Sunday editions of NBA Countdown on ESPN and ABC. For 5 years prior to the NBA assignment, Steele was a full-time co-host of SportsCenter, ESPN's flagship show, and has previously contributed to ESPN First Take, Mike & Mike in the Morning, and SportsNation. Steele hosted SportsCenter's daytime coverage of the NBA Finals in 2012 and 2013.

Early life

Sage Steele was born in 1972, of African-American and Irish/Italian descent into an American Army family living in the Panama Canal Zone. The Army stationed Steele's family in several different states and countries, including Greece and Belgium, before moving back stateside to Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1984 for her seventh grade year. After attending Thomas B. Doherty High School in Colorado Springs for two years, she moved to Carmel, Indiana and attended Carmel High School as a senior, graduating in 1990.

She graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in sports communication. Exactly 20 years later, she was the commencement speaker at the 2015 Indiana University undergraduate commencement, which she considers the greatest honor of her career.