Aloha, Neil Everett. Happy trails.
After 23 years with the ESPN and 14 years as a SportsCenter West Coast co-anchor, Everett signed off for a final time on Friday.
Everett confirmed he was leaving ESPN earlier in June following a Disney mandated downsize of ESPN’s on-air television talent, according to Front Office Sports.
Everett hosted the late-night West Coast edition of SportsCenter alongside his longtime co-anchor Stan Verrett. The two have been anchoring the show since 2009, but Everett joined the company in 2000 after a 15-year stint of working locally in Hawaii.
On Friday he gave one last sign-off and left the audience with some kind words after a nice tribute video.
First came the tribute video.
A worthy sendoff for Neil Everett on his final @SportsCenter. pic.twitter.com/nCnYkYJaNz
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 24, 2023
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Then came the goodbye.
"Love is a long road. I'll see you down it."
Neil Everett bids farewell to SportsCenter one last time with longtime partner Stan Verrett pic.twitter.com/BKghg6Vpbl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 24, 2023
“Well this is the end of the line for me. I’m not on social media, but Stan has told me that some of you have left some favorable tweets. And I appreciate that because that’s what you do — you do this to entertain you all out there and entertain yourself. … Love is a long road. I’ll see you down it.”
That’s Neil Everett, man. Those late-night “Bartender, Jack!” highlight calls in the summertime during baseball season never got old. It’d be time for bed on the east coast, but you couldn’t stop watching SportsCenter because Everett and Verrett were such a delightful combo. SportsCenter will miss him — we all will.
The internet showed lots of love to Everett on the way out, even though he probably won’t see it.