Tragic Details About ESPN Anchor Hannah Storm

It may be the No. 1 sports network in the country, but ESPN also has a shady side. From backstage affairs to allegations of assault and surprise host departures (looking at you, Maria Taylor), ESPN has been through its share of scandals.

However, it's not all drama. Despite the controversies, the network remained a trusted source for sports news and home to some of the most impressive sportscasters in the biz. Folks like Hannah Storm who joined ESPN in 2008 and has gone on to anchor "SportsCenter," as well as cover some of the biggest sporting events in the world.

Nearly two decades into her time with ESPN, she's still thriving and is a regular on-air fixture. Yes, she does have her share of haters – one Reddit user even started a thread in 2024 titled "Hannah Storm makes ESPN unwatchable" – but she also has plenty of supporters. And yet, despite her long-lasting career, Storm's life hasn't just been filled with successes. Indeed, she's faced her share of hardships, both personal and professional. These are the tragic details about ESPN anchor Hannah Storm.

To this day, breaking out as a female journalist focused exclusively on sports is no easy feat. Rachel Nichols' rise to the top of the sportscasting world was a struggle and so was Hannah Storm's. As the ESPN anchor shared in a 1998 issue of Texas Monthly, she knew she wanted to be a sportscaster from the moment she graduated from Notre Dame in 1983, however, it proved to be an uphill battle. "There were virtually no female sportscasters on the air," she recalled in a 2011 essay for ESPN.

Despite submitting hundreds of resumes, she only received rejections, many of them scathing. "I was told everything from 'I'll hire a woman to do sports over my dead body' to 'My audience will never accept a woman sportscaster,'" Storm wrote. Even so, she persevered by following some life-changing advice from her father, former NBA commissioner Mike Storen. Storen suggested his daughter shift her focus from TV to radio (to start, at least) and she soon accepted an offer as a nighttime DJ at a hard rock station in Corpus Christi, Texas. She would spend six months there, gaining experience and a new moniker, swapping Hannah Storen for Hannah Storm.

Storm then landed a gig in Houston as a weekday sportscaster – but only after waiting for the radio station's program director in the lobby and forcing her resume on him. From there, she became the first female host of CNN Sports Tonight in 1989, eventually joining NBC in 1992 and ESPN in 2008.

Hannah Storm was preparing dinner for her family in 2012 when the everyday activity nearly turned deadly. The sports anchor was using a propane gas grill and when the flame suddenly went out, she turned it off and back on again. Proper use requires waiting a few minutes for the gas to dissipate before trying to reignite the grill. Storm didn't wait and, as she told AP (via ESPN), "There was an explosion and a wall of fire came at me." Her shirt was ablaze and she managed to remove it, but the flames continued, leaving her with second-degree burns on her chest and hands, as well as first-degree burns on her face and neck. Her eyebrows, eyelashes, and half of her hair were also singed off.

Storm was rushed to the hospital where she received treatment in the Trauma and Burn Center for the next 24 hours. Despite the severity of the injury, she didn't allow it to slow her down. Just three weeks after the accident, Storm was back on the air, co-hosting ABC's telecast of the 2013 Rose Parade. "I've covered events with military members who have been through a lot worse than me," she said of the source of her fortitude. "I kept thinking, 'I can do this. I'm fortunate.'"

Hannah Storm wasted no time getting back to work following her terrifying propane gas grill accident. However, her recovery was slow going. In 2018, five years after the explosion, the TV personality told People that the extent of her injuries had actually been graver than she initially let on. In addition to her eyesight being damaged, she also lost a small part of her nose. "It was very frightening, extremely painful, and a very difficult recovery," she confessed.

Eventually, Storm's hair grew back and her scars healed, but side effects persisted. "I still have to be careful when I go out in the sun," she shared. "If there's a temperature change, my hands hurt because of the damage caused by the burns." Being exposed to heat, whether in the shower or outside, turns the burned areas into red blotches. Not to mention the psychological toll the incident took. As Storm revealed, she refuses to ever get near a gas grill again.

She did try to find the positive in the accident, however. Speaking with People on its 10th anniversary in 2021, the anchor noted it forced her to reassess life. "I think that one of the things that it did make me do that was permanent was a slowdown," she mused. "Part of the reason I had that accident is I was rushing."

Losing a beloved colleague is difficult enough, but Hannah Storm had to say goodbye to two such friends in a year – and had to do so on the air. In 2015, she was the one to tell "SportsCenter" viewers that 49-year-old anchor Stuart Scott had died following a long battle with cancer. Calling him "our colleague, our friend, and our inspiration," Storm fought back tears as she recalled Scott's impressive 21-year career with ESPN.

Just one year later, in 2016, she had to pay tribute to John Saunders who died unexpectedly at age 61. She again fought back tears as she praised his nearly 30-year stint with the network, calling Saunders "generous and talented and beloved."

Speaking with the New York Post that same year, Storm opened up about the hardship of making such an announcement. "It's the two most difficult things I've ever done and hard to believe," she told the outlet. "You find out a few minutes before you go on air, and I can't even describe the feeling." That said, Storm quickly added that she was honored to have been trusted with the task and hoped their families appreciated her heartfelt tributes.

Hannah Storm suffered another health scare in November 2023 when a routine mammogram proved not to be routine at all. Despite being screened regularly, feeling no lumps, and having no family history of breast cancer, doctors spotted something worrisome on Storm's X-rays. She was sent to do a follow-up ultrasound, and then a biopsy, which led to a stage zero breast cancer diagnosis. "I was so stunned," she told People in 2024. "I literally had nothing that would've indicated that I had breast cancer."

Storm had ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a condition in which the cells that line the milk ducts are cancerous, but have not spread to any of the surrounding tissue. Unsurprisingly, she was afraid, but her doctor assured her the diagnosis was not fatal. Days later, the anchor underwent a successful lumpectomy which completely removed the cancer.

Following the ordeal, Storm shared her story with the public to push women to get regular testing. Just like Hoda Kotb who shared her heartbreaking experience with cancer and Katie Couric who was open about her diagnosis, Storm was candid about her cancer. Writing for ESPN Front Row, she noted how 80 to 90 percent of those diagnosed with breast cancer don't actually have any pre-existing risk factors. "Make screening for cancers a priority," she encouraged.

If there's one person who had an invaluable amount of influence on Hannah Storm's career it's her father, Mike Storen. "It's no surprise that I ended up in sportscasting," Storm once wrote for ESPN. "I lived this world with my father." Sharing a similar sentiment with TSN, she recalled, "From the time I was a kid, I was always around sports because of my dad."

Indeed, Storen was a highly lauded sports exec and former ABA commissioner who passed on his love of various games to his daughter. He was also there to offer advice and unwavering support which would ultimately help her break through the glass ceiling as a female sportscaster.

Sadly, Storen died in 2020 at age 84 due to complications from cancer. Paying tribute to her dad on Facebook, Storm told followers just how much of an impact he had on her life. "He was creative, larger-than-life, relentlessly positive, a fierce leader, inspiring, a forward thinker and above all, my greatest supporter," she wrote. He also had a major impact on her personal life. "Most importantly, he set the example for the kind of parent I strive to be for my girls," she praised.