LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The NFCA is pleased to announce ESPN reporter Holly Rowe as the keynote speaker for the 2018 NFCA National Convention on Dec. 5-8 in Chicago.
“We are over the moon that Holly is going to be our keynote,” NFCA Executive Director Carol Bruggeman said. “If you watch sports on TV, you have witnessed her unmatched energy and enthusiasm, as she has been a part of nearly every major sporting event. Holly’s presence at the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) and overall love of softball has helped our sport grow tremendously.”
Rowe can regularly be found providing inside information and sideline interviews to the living rooms of America straight from all of the nation’s biggest sporting events, including the WCWS, NBA, WNBA, men’s and women’s college basketball and college football. She has also spent time as a play-by-play announcer and analyst for women’s college basketball, gymnastics, softball and volleyball, and was one of the announcers on ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup soccer tournament in 1998.
As pleased as the NFCA is to have her, Rowe might be even more happy and honored than the Association to bat leadoff at the Convention’s “First Pitch” Opening Welcome on the first day.
“I’m not worthy,” Rowe said. “I was like, ‘What can I add to this?’ I thought I better really bring it. I don’t want to strike out.”
Passion and purpose will be a big part of her presentation.
“I’ll sprinkle in the stories of the sport and the passion and purpose of these athletes,” the always-upbeat Rowe said, adding that the sports she covers have provided inspiration and passion not only for viewers, but for her personally, which is clear on the broadcasts.
“The greatest compliment I can give is the Women’s College World Series is a bucket-list event,” Rowe said. “You want to do the Running of the Bulls, the Kentucky Derby, the Super Bowl, the (MLB) World Series. The WCWS is becoming must-watch, must-attend for sports fans. It’s something you should experience.”
Now midway through her second decade covering the WCWS, Rowe vividly remembers her first one.
“I was terrified of Sue Enquist,” she admitted, referring to the longtime UCLA head coach and NFCA Hall of Famer. “Nothing she did, but just how big she was in the sport.”
Rowe is a former sports reporter and anchor at various newspaper, television and radio outlets in her native Utah, in addition to her work for Fox Sports, the BYU Sports Network and the Blue and White Sports Network. The Emmy-nominated writer and producer is a graduate of the University of Utah with a degree in broadcast journalism.
Photo courtesy of Scott Clarke/ESPN Images