Before he was an ESPN anchor, before his cool as the other side of the pillow delivery captured the flavor of an era of sports broadcasting, Stuart Scott was a reporter at WRAL.
Scott will be remembered in another way almost 11 years after his death when ESPN premieres “Boo-Yah!” the 30 for 30 documentary about his life and career, on Dec. 10, 2025.
“Boo-Yah!” tells Scott’s story as a broadcaster, and how he shattered preconceived notions of how on-air figures were expected to look, talk, act and think – and in the process, helped bring hip-hop and Black culture into the sports media mainstream.
Scott died on Jan. 4, 2015, at the age of 49 after a years-long battle with cancer.
In July 2014, Scott was honored with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. In accepting the award, he told the ESPYs audience that “when you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live.”
Scott graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with the goal of becoming a sportscaster. He wore his Tar Heel blue on his sleeve, never missing an opportunity to attend a game, root for his Heels or talk up the program.
On his way up, Scott spent two years (1988-90) as a general assignment reporter at WRAL. He left Raleigh for a sports reporting position in Florida, where he caught the attention of the Worldwide Leader.
>> January 2015: Tears, tributes for Tar Heel Stuart Scott
On SportsCenter and in coverage of the NBA and NFL, Scott’s charisma and character made him a fan favorite.
ESPN describes his impact thus:
At a time when hip-hop and popular culture were often marginalized in mainstream media and few Black anchors held national prominence, Stuart brought both unapologetically to “SportsCenter,” blending sharp analysis, pop culture and swagger in a way that spoke to a new generation of fans.Boo-Yah, the Stuart Scott 30 of 30 on ESPN
The premiere of “Boo-Yah” coincides with ESPN’s 19th Annual V Week for Cancer Research, which helps fundraise for the V Foundation for Cancer Research, started after the death of another ESPN broadcast and Triangle sports legend, Jim Valvano.
