John Saunders
John Saunders
Sports Commentator
ESPN and ABC Sports
John Saunders, one of ESPN’s and ABC Sports’ most visible and versatile commentators, has hosted and provided play-by-play for a variety of sports since joining ESPN in 1986. Saunders hosts ESPN’s NCAA basketball studio programming (since 1989) and NHL Stanley Cup playoffs (since 1993), and served as a play-by-play commentator for the 2003-2004 NBA season on ESPN. In addition, in January 2002 he was named host of ESPN The Magazine’s Sports Reporters, ESPN’s Sunday morning roundtable where print reporters discuss the week’s topical issues.
Saunders has also worked for ABC Sports since 1990, hosting NCAA basketball telecasts since 1998 (also 1990-91), college football telecasts since 1992 and NHL action since 1999 (also in 1993). He has served as a contributor to Wide World of Sports since 1990 and also provided play-by-play of NCAA basketball games (1992).
At ESPN, Saunders has also called play-by-play for college basketball (since 1990), WNBA (1999-2001) and NBDL (since 2001) games. He has hosted Baseball Tonight (1990-93) and SportsCenter’s coverage of the Final Four (1991-93), the World Series (1990-92), and Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game (1990-92). He also hosted Rendez-Vous ’87, the two game series between the NHL All-Stars and the Soviets. He occasionally hosted ESPN’s NHL telecasts in 1987-88.
Saunders joined ESPN in December of 1986 as a SportsCenter anchor. He came to ESPN from WMAR-TV in Baltimore, where he had worked since 1982 as an anchor of three daily sports reports. He also hosted the Baltimore Orioles’ pre-game program “Orioles on Deck” and provided analysis for Baltimore Colts’ preseason games. WMAR was honored by AP and UPI in 1983 and 1985 for having the best sportscast in Baltimore.
Saunders, a native Canadian, called play-by-play for the Toronto Raptors on CKVR-TV (1995-2001). He was the main sports anchor for City-TV in Toronto from 1980-82. He also served as sports anchor at ATV News in New Brunswick (1979-80) and CKNY-TV in Ontario (1978-79). In 1978, he was the news director for CKNS Radio in Espanola, Ontario.
An all-star defenseman in the Montreal junior leagues, Saunders received a scholarship and played hockey at Western Michigan University from 1974-1976. In 1976 he transferred to Ryerson Polytechnical in Toronto.
He provided news reports for CHOO-Radio in Ajax, Ontario, and continued to play hockey while attending school. Saunders’ brother, Bernie, played left wing for the Quebec Nordiques in the National Hockey League from 1979-1981.
Saunders has been a member of The V Foundation Board of Directors since the inception of The Foundation in 1993.
