Keli McGregor couldn’t have foreseen his daughter Taylor’s career in broadcasting earlier than he died at 48 on April 20, 2010. The concept was nonetheless new to Taylor, who was a junior at Golden High School on the time. But her father, who had been the Rockies’ president since 2001, posthumously gave her a nudge.
Taylor spoke at Keli’s memorial service in entrance of an estimated 3,000 folks at Coors Field. What she mentioned and the way she mentioned it left such an impression on these gathered that individuals nonetheless point out it to her.
“That was really when everybody started coming up to me [saying], ‘You have a gift. You need to lean into whatever this is,’ ” mentioned McGregor, who spoke after her two sisters and brother. “That was one of those, OK, I need to pursue something in this.”
That she did, and on Thursday, she started her seventh season as Marquee Sports Network’s lead discipline reporter on Cubs broadcasts. Last week, she labored her first NBA recreation for ESPN, increasing a nationwide profile that added the College Football Playoff final season.
McGregor’s bosses at ESPN are noticing what Cubs followers — and those that noticed her converse that day in Denver — already knew: She’s very snug in entrance of a crowd of 1000’s, not to mention a digital camera earlier than thousands and thousands.
“So many of our bosses sit in the [production] truck, and I think they’ve recognized that I have a good idea of what’s interesting,” McGregor, 33, mentioned. “And I worked hard at that. It takes time to understand the sport, to really dive in to be able to differentiate yourself.”
Initially, McGregor considered differentiating herself, effectively, otherwise.
The 9/11 assaults occurred when McGregor was in third grade, and her instructor, who was from New York, typically would discuss with the category in regards to the occasions of the day. McGregor remembers considering that she “wanted to help catch the bad guys.” One approach to do this was to affix the CIA.
When McGregor was in eighth grade, her father was working the Rockies. The staff’s head of safety was a former FBI agent who had a good friend who was an energetic CIA agent. A gathering was organized — she nonetheless doesn’t assume she is aware of the man’s actual identify — and he or she peppered him with questions, fascinated by the chance.
“But the one downside I remember him telling me is, as a female, it’s really hard to do this because you probably won’t be able to have a family and kids because you’re going to be all over,” McGregor mentioned. “And I remember thinking, Well, I really want a family and kids, so maybe this isn’t for me.”
Meanwhile, ladies had been changing into extra prevalent in sports activities tv. McGregor watched a number of Rockies video games, so she noticed Alanna Rizzo, the staff’s discipline reporter, and Charissa Thompson, who hosted the staff’s weekly all-access present. And she remembers considering, I can try this.
McGregor had been performing in entrance of crowds in some trend since she was a baby. She was the lead in elementary college performs. She was within the kids’s choir. She was an athlete, excelling in soccer. Why not in entrance of a digital camera?
After graduating from the University of Arkansas with a level in broadcast journalism, McGregor started her career at KCWY-TV in Casper, Wyoming, making $18,000 a 12 months. It was a grind. Once at a drive-thru Starbucks, her debit card was declined, and he or she needed to name her mom and ask for money.
But because the weekday sports activities anchor, she received a number of reps, that are invaluable. She additionally realized the right way to be a reporter, overlaying excessive colleges that didn’t include sports-information departments.
Most importantly, McGregor realized how badly she needed to do the job. After a cease at KTHV-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas, she grew to become the Rockies’ discipline reporter on AT&T SportsInternet Rocky Mountain, the place she caught the eye of ESPN NFL analyst and former quarterback Brian Griese, an enormous Rockies fan.
“I had never met Brian Griese,” McGregor mentioned, “but one day at the ballpark, I run into him, and I introduced myself. I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m Taylor McGregor, and I wanna be a sideline reporter for ESPN.’ He said, ‘I watch your stuff, you can do it. I’ve worked with a lot of reporters; you’re as good if not better than them.’ ”
Unprompted, Griese known as Steve Ackels, then ESPN’s coordinating producer for faculty soccer, who had instructed McGregor once they met at SEC media days that the community had no openings. But the following day, she received a name from Ackels, who supplied her a number of video games in that 2019 season. After beginning on an SEC Network overflow channel, she completed the season on ESPN.
Meanwhile, Marquee was making ready to launch in 2020, and McGregor received phrase that the community was on the lookout for an skilled discipline reporter. At first, she wasn’t . She cherished her job with the Rockies. She was residence. Then she talked with some colleagues, who pointed to the Cubs’ draw and stature.
“They were like, ‘You’re insane. You have to go after this,’ ” McGregor mentioned. “I said, ‘OK, you’re right.’ I ended up flying out, and I remember landing in Chicago and being like, not only am I going to put myself up for this job, but I think I’m going to get this job.”
Deep down, McGregor felt she wanted to department out and be in a spot the place she wasn’t identified largely for being Keli McGregor’s daughter. Of course, she cherished being identified for that and was happy with her father’s legacy. But this was a solution to begin her personal.
“Taylor was very credible and very capable right from the start,” mentioned former Marquee basic supervisor Mike McCarthy, who employed McGregor. “While she has a God-given talent for putting people at ease, she also has a strong confidence about her, without any arrogance or aloofness. We saw it on her tapes, and we saw it in our meetings with her. She was, and is, the real deal.”
McGregor, who now lives in Chicago, is performing very effectively on Marquee’s high staff with play-by-play voice Jon Sciambi and analyst Jim Deshaies. Her preparation is obvious, her supply is snug and her banter together with her broadcast mates is pleasant.
Keli could be proud.
