“It's amazing. I sent post cards to a couple of my college teammates. The tradition here is incredible,” said McKendry, who attended Holland Elementary School when her family lived in Holland for a few years.
McKendry, who grew up playing tennis and other sports with her three brothers, said she always knew she wanted to be a sportscaster.
“When it was time for college, I chose a city school so I could work at a Philadelphia television station,” she said.
As a sophomore at Drexel, McKendry interned in the Fox29 sports department for Howard Eskin and Bill Perry (coincidentally, these days Perry is a producer at ESPN). The following year, she interned for then-sports anchor Ukee Washington and Michael Barkann at KYW. After graduation, McKendry worked in Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C., before joining ESPN in 1994.
Though McKendry has covered a variety of sports while at ESPN, she says Wimbledon is the highlight.
McKendry, is married with two sons, 4 and 2.
Moonlighting
Fox29 sports director Don Tollefson will be anchoring the 10 o'clock news tonight.
According to a Fox spokesperson, Tollefson is filling in because of summer and vacation holiday schedules. Fox may need another news anchor, as current weekend news anchor Tom Burlington was suspended by station management for alleged inappropriate behavior.
Tollefson began his tenure at Fox as the co-host of “Good Day Philadelphia” before moving to sports in 1998.
Bad idea
Here is a prime example of why newscasters should not attempt to do sports. A reader wrote:
“I was watching the 7:25 "Today Show' insert on Channel 10 Thursday when [news anchor] Aditi Roy said the Phillies lost 6 to 9. In the eight o'clock hour, she made the same mistake. Then on Friday morning, she called [Phillies shortstop] Jimmy Rollins, Jimmy Role-ins.' ”
Either assign sports stories to news anchors who know sports, or have the producer make sure the anchor is up to date on players' names and sports terminology.
Tsk, tsk
The July 4 editions of “Out of Bounds” on CN8 were pre-taped. Professional sports and other television networks didn't take the holiday off, so why should CN8?
E-MAIL: lauranachman@verizon.net