Robin Roberts (newscaster)
Robin Roberts (born November 23, 1960)[1] is an American television broadcaster. Roberts is the anchor of ABC's Good Morning America.[2]
For the baseball player, see Robin Roberts (baseball).
Robin Roberts
News anchor
1983–present
Lawrence E. Roberts (father)
Sally-Ann Roberts (sister)
After growing up in Mississippi and attending Southeastern Louisiana University, Roberts was a sports anchor for local TV and radio stations. Roberts was a sportscaster on ESPN for 15 years (1990–2005) and the first woman to co-host NFL Primetime. She became co-anchor on Good Morning America in 2005. Roberts was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. Her treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome was chronicled on the program, which earned a 2012 Peabody Award for the coverage.
Early life[edit]
Roberts was born in Tuskegee, Alabama,[1][3] and grew up in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where she played basketball and tennis, among other sports. She attended Pass Christian High School and graduated as the class of 1979 salutatorian.[4] She is the daughter of Lucimarian (née Tolliver) and Colonel Lawrence E. Roberts.[5]
In a 2006 presentation to the student body at Abilene Christian University, Roberts credited her parents as cultivating the "three 'D's: Discipline, Determination, and 'De Lord.'"[6] She is the youngest of four, following siblings Sally-Ann, Lawrence Jr. (nicknamed Butch), and Dorothy. Her father was a pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen.[7]
Education[edit]
Roberts attended Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana, graduating cum laude in 1983 with a degree in communication.[8] She followed in the footsteps of her older sister Sally-Ann Roberts, an anchor at the CBS affiliate WWL-TV in New Orleans.[9][10]
Roberts noted on the January 14, 2007, edition of Costas on the Radio that she was offered a scholarship to play basketball at Louisiana State University, but thought the school was too big and impersonal after visiting the campus. On her way back to Pass Christian from that visit, she saw a road sign for Southeastern Louisiana University, stopped to visit and decided to enroll. The only scholarship left was a tennis scholarship, and she was promised that there would be a journalism scholarship by the time she would graduate. She went on to become a standout performer on the women's basketball team, ending her career as the school's third all-time leading scorer (1,446 points) and rebounder (1,034). Roberts is one of only three Lady Lions to score 1,000 career points and grab 1,000 career rebounds. During her senior season, she averaged a career-high 27.6 points per game. On February 5, 2011, Southeastern hosted a ceremony to retire Roberts' jersey, number 21.[11]