"Secretary of State Colin Powell, thank you so much, as always, for joining us this morning." -- Hannah Storm
Hannah Storm (born Hannah Storen June 13, 1962) is an American television sports journalist, and co-anchor along with Josh Elliott of ESPN's SportsCenter. From 2002 until 2007, Storm was one of the hosts of CBS's The Early Show.
Storm was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and is the daughter of sports executive Mike Storen, who was a commissioner of the American Basketball Association, general manager of that league's Indiana Pacers, Kentucky Colonels and Memphis Sounds franchises, and president of the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA. Her mother, Hannah G. Storen, is a successful real estate agent in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Westminster Schools of Atlanta in 1979 and the University of Notre Dame in 1983, with degrees in political science and communications. She is married to sportscaster Dan Hicks. The couple has three daughters -- Riley, Ellery and Hannah.
Storm took her on-air name during her stint as a disc jockey for a hard rock radio station in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the early-1980s. While at Notre Dame, she worked for WNDU-TV, the Notre Dame-owned NBC affiliate in South Bend, Indiana. After graduation, she took a job as a disc jockey at KNCN-FM (C-101) in Corpus Christi, Texas. Six months later, she got a job at a Houston rock station as the drive-time sportscaster. Storm stayed in Houston for four years doing a variety of radio and television jobs, including hosting the Houston Rockets halftime and postgame shows and also hosted Houston Astros postgame shows on television. She worked as a very popular weekend sports anchor on WCNC TV 36 (formerly WRET) in Charlotte, NC in 1988-89. She made the huge leap to CNN from there.
In 1992, Storm left CNN and was hired by NBC. She hosted for the Olympic Games, as well as NBA and WNBA basketball, the National Football League, figure skating, and Major League Baseball. Storm became the first woman in American television history to act as solo host of a network's sports package when NBC had her host Major League Baseball games from to (CBS' Andrea Joyce preceded her, but co-hosted the sports packages). She then hosted The NBA on NBC from 1997 to 2002. Storm also anchored NBC Sports coverage of Wimbledon, French Open, Notre Dame football, World Figure Skating Championships, NBC SportsDesk, Men's and Women's U.S. Open and various college bowl games. Storm was also the the first play-by-play announcer for the WNBA in 1997.
The Early Show
In October 2002, she moved to CBS News and became one of the hosts of The Early Show. As co-host of The Early Show, she covered major news events, including the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, Super Bowls XLI and XXXVIII, the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the 2004 U.S. presidential election, 2008 presidential elections, and the 2005 London terrorist bombings. Storm has interviewed major newsmakers such as President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Senators John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as many sports and pop culture icons, including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, Jamie Foxx, Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston.
In addition to her duties on The Early Show, Storm hosted shows for the award-winning CBS newsmagazine, 48 Hours. She also served as co-host of the network's CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade for five years. In 2007, Storm conceived and wrote a daily blog for CBSNEWS.com, which featured behind-the-scenes insight and stories of inspirational women.
During an Early Show on-air segment, Storm revealed on camera that she had a congenital defect known as port-wine stain under her left eye.
In November 2007, CBS announced that Storm was leaving The Early Show. Storm's last day as an The Early Show co-host was December 7, 2007.
ESPN
Storm joined ESPN on May 10, 2008. She currently anchors SportsCenter weekdays (except Fridays during the NFL season) from 9 a.m. until noon with co-anchor Josh Elliott and the Sunday mornings during the NFL season with Bob Ley. Her duties are to deliver highlights and to question analysts about sports topics.
In August 2009, she added tennis host to her ESPN duties by co-hosting the 2009 U.S. Open with Mike Tirico and Chris Fowler. She also hosted the U.S. Open in 2010.
In February 2010, fellow ESPN colleague Tony Kornheiser jokingly criticized her outfit that day on his radio show, and was suspended from ESPN for two weeks. He has since apologized to her via a 15-minute phone conversation.
Beginning on April 3, 2010, Storm will host ESPN Sports Saturday, a show on corporate sibling ABC similar to that network's classic sports series, Wide World of Sports.
In June 2010 she alongside fellow anchor Stuart Scott provided the lead coverage for the 2010 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.
She has written two books, as well as contributed extensively for several magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Nick Jr., Family Circle, Child, and Notre Dame Magazine.
In 2008, Storm created the Hannah Storm Foundation, which raises awareness and provides treatment for children suffering from debilitating and disfiguring vascular birthmarks. She also sits on the boards of the Tribeca Film Festival, Colgate Women's Sports Awards, 21st Century Kids 1st Foundation, and has done extensive work with the March of Dimes, Partnership for Drug-Free America, Boys and Girls Club, Special Olympics, the Women's Sports Foundation, Vascular Birthmark Institute, University of Notre Dame, and the Diocese of Bridgeport. Storm also founded Brainstormin' Productions for the creation of educational and inspirational programming.
Storm has written two books: Go Girl, a parenting guide for raising daughters to participate in sports, which is in its second printing, and Notre Dame Inspirations, which funds a journalism scholarship in her name at her alma mater.
Notre Dame Inspirations: The University's Most Successful Alumni Talk About Life, Spirituality, Football-and Everything Else Under the Dome, Doubleday, 2006. ISBN 978-0385-51812-3
Go Girl! Raising Healthy Confident and Successful Daughters through Sports, Sourcebooks, 2002
