Hall of Fame Sportscaster Lesley Visser has written her story: “Sometimes You Have to Cross when it says, ‘Don’t Walk'” – A Memoir of Breaking Barriers
Lesley Visser is the most highly acclaimed female sportscaster of all time. The trailblazing pioneer is in eight Halls of Fame and has almost always been the First – The First woman enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame; the First woman to win the Lifetime Achievement Sports Emmy; the First woman on the Network broadcasts of the Final Four, the NBA Finals, the Super Bowl and the World Series. She is the First and Only woman to have presented the Championship Lombardi Trophy at the Super Bowl. She was First woman to cover the NFL as a beat writer, the First woman on ABC’S “Monday Night Football” and the First female NFL analyst in both Radio and TV. She was the First female sportscaster to carry the Olympic Torch and the only winner of the Billie Jean King “Outstanding Journalist Award.” In October, she will become the First woman to win the Vin Scully Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting.
In a 47-year career, Visser has done international stories from the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, to Thanksgiving in 2022, when she was invited by the US State Department to speak to aspiring women in land-locked Uzbekistan. She interviewed Yao Ming in Shanghai in 2010 before he entered the NBA Draft for HBO’s “Real Sports,” and talked to Mark Cuban in 2019 about his idea to buy the Big Ten Conference. Visser also worked on the Network broadcasts of the Olympics, the Triple Crown, the World Figure Skating Championships, and the US Open Tennis.
She was voted the No. 1 Female Sportscaster of All-Time by the National Sportscasters of America. Her career began at the Boston Globe in 1974 after winning a Carnegie Foundation Grant, given to only 20 women in the country who wanted to go into jobs that were 95% male. Two years later, the Boston Globe made her the first woman to cover the NFL, at a time when the credentials said, “No Women or Children in the Press Box.”
Lesley was elected to the National Sports Media Hall of Fame for her writing at the Boston Globe, magazines and CBS.com. She was voted to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame for her work at CBS, ABC, ESPN and HBO.
Lesley won the Newseum Award for Lifetime Achievement – first given to Walter Cronkite, and has been named a Muhammad Ali “Daughter of Greatness.” She served on the Board of the V Foundation for Cancer Research for more than 20 years, and also on the Board of NYU’s “Sports and Society.”
A graduate of Boston College, which awarded her an Honorary Doctorate in 2007, Visser has mentored young women for decades and been invited to speak everywhere from Doha, Qatar, to Charleston, South Carolina, where she delivered an address for President Clinton’s Renaissance Weekend. Lesley’s book, “Sometimes You Have to Cross When It Says Don’t Walk” is a memoir of breaking barriers. Born in Boston, Lesley would dress up on Halloween as her childhood idol, Celtic guard Sam Jones, and in 2013, she had the honor of throwing out the first pitch for her beloved Red Sox.
In her 30th year at CBS, her 47th in the business, Lesley is a contributor to the first All-Female Network Sports Show, “We Need To Talk,” on CBS. Visser has been voted one of the “Women we Love” by Esquire Magazine and one of the “Five Ideal Dinner Guests” by GQ.
Hall of Fame Sportscaster Lesley Visser has written her story: “Sometimes You Have to Cross when it says, ‘Don’t Walk'” – A Memoir of Breaking Barriers
Lesley Visser is the most highly acclaimed female sportscaster of all time. The trailblazing pioneer is in eight Halls of Fame and has almost always been the First – The First woman enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame; the First woman to win the Lifetime Achievement Sports Emmy; the First woman on the Network broadcasts of the Final Four, the NBA Finals, the Super Bowl and the World Series. She is the First and Only woman to have presented the Championship Lombardi Trophy at the Super Bowl. She was First woman to cover the NFL as a beat writer, the First woman on ABC’S “Monday Night Football” and the First female NFL analyst in both Radio and TV. She was the First female sportscaster to carry the Olympic Torch and the only winner of the Billie Jean King “Outstanding Journalist Award.” In October, she will become the First woman to win the Vin Scully Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting.
In a 47-year career, Visser has done international stories from the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, to Thanksgiving in 2022, when she was invited by the US State Department to speak to aspiring women in land-locked Uzbekistan. She interviewed Yao Ming in Shanghai in 2010 before he entered the NBA Draft for HBO’s “Real Sports,” and talked to Mark Cuban in 2019 about his idea to buy the Big Ten Conference. Visser also worked on the Network broadcasts of the Olympics, the Triple Crown, the World Figure Skating Championships, and the US Open Tennis. She was voted the No. 1 Female Sportscaster of All-Time by the National Sportscasters of America. Her career began at the Boston Globe in 1974 after winning a Carnegie Foundation Grant, given to only 20 women in the country who wanted to go into jobs that were 95% male. Two years later, the Boston Globe made her the first woman to cover the NFL, at a time when the credentials said, “No Women or Children in the Press Box.”
Lesley was elected to the National Sports Media Hall of Fame for her writing at the Boston Globe, magazines and CBS.com. She was voted to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame for her work at CBS, ABC, ESPN and HBO. Lesley won the Newseum Award for Lifetime Achievement – first given to Walter Cronkite, and has been named a Muhammad Ali “Daughter of Greatness.” She served on the Board of the V Foundation for Cancer Research for more than 20 years, and also on the Board of NYU’s “Sports and Society.”
A graduate of Boston College, which awarded her an Honorary Doctorate in 2007, Visser has mentored young women for decades and been invited to speak everywhere from Doha, Qatar, to Charleston, South Carolina, where she delivered an address for President Clinton’s Renaissance Weekend. Lesley’s book, “Sometimes You Have to Cross When It Says Don’t Walk” is a memoir of breaking barriers. Born in Boston, Lesley would dress up on Halloween as her childhood idol, Celtic guard Sam Jones, and in 2013, she had the honor of throwing out the first pitch for her beloved Red Sox.
In her 30th year at CBS, her 47th in the business, Lesley is a contributor to the first All-Female Network Sports Show, “We Need To Talk,” on CBS. Visser has been voted one of the “Women we Love” by Esquire Magazine and one of the “Five Ideal Dinner Guests” by GQ.