Jemele Hill

Jemele Hill was an American sports journalist who co-hosted a number of sports programs on ESPN, most notably the sports statistics show "His & Hers" (2011-17). Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Hill always had two loves: sports and writing. Thus, when she entered Michigan State University (MSU) at the age of 18, she decided to study journalism, with the intention of becoming a sports journalist. Hill eventually graduated from MSU and soon entered the rough and tumble world of newspaper reporting. Luckily, she was able to land a general assignment sports reporting job at the Raleigh News & Observer. Hill stayed at the North Carolina newspaper for a number of years, thus learning first hand the craft of sports journalism. In 1995 she moved back to her hometown of Detroit where she started writing from the Detroit Free Press. During her long tenure at the paper, Hill covered basketball and football games for her alma mater, Michigan State University. She also reported on the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, thus broadening her sports journalism expertise beyond college sports. Then in 2006 Hill started working for ESPN in multiple capacities. In addition to penning a column for ESPN.com, Hill co-hosted the network's popular morning program "First Take" (ESPN2, 2007- ), in addition to making numerous guest appearances on the network's flagship series "SportsCenter" (ESPN, 1979- ). In 2013 Hill took on a new role at ESPN as the co-host of "His & Hers" (ESPN2, 2011-17). Originally called "Numbers Never Lie," Hill and her co-host Michael Smith discussed sports statistics on the show, thus making "His & Hers" unique for being one of the only mathematics-themed sports shows on television. After "His & Hers" concluded production in January 2017, Hill and Smith took over as evening anchors on "SportsCenter." In the fall of 2017, Hill found herself under fire after tweeting critically about the current political landscape. In January 2018, Hill announced her intention to step down as "SportsCenter" co-anchor, although it was expected that she would continue to participate in other programming on the network.