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Longtime sportscaster, ESPN 'SportsCenter' anchor, reveals prostate cancer diagnosis

The 22-year veteran of the network revealed when he hopes to return from treatments on 'Good Morning America'

By J.P. Hoornstra

ESPN sportscaster Jay Harris on the field prior to the Celebration Bowl between the Grambling State Tigers and the North Carolina Central Eagles at the Georgia Dome on December 17, 2016.
ESPN sportscaster Jay Harris on the field prior to the Celebration Bowl between the Grambling State Tigers and the North Carolina Central Eagles at the Georgia Dome on December 17, 2016. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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Longtime ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor Jay Harris revealed Thursday to ABC's Good Morning America that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Harris said he hopes to return to work “in a month or so, 100 percent healthy.”

Harris joined ESPN in February 2003 as an ESPNEWS anchor. He was chosen to anchor his first SportsCenter that May.

"My goal in sharing this is to join the many others who also want to normalize this conversation and hopefully provide a bit of guidance and preparation, just as it has been offered to me," Harris wrote on ESPN.com Thursday.

Harris, 60, said the American Cancer Society estimates there will be more than 310,000 new cases of prostate cancer in 2025.

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"If I can use my voice to help anyone in that number, that’s what I want to do," he wrote.

Harris thanked fellow SportsCenter anchors Hannah Storm and Brian Custer, both of whom have dealth with cancer, for their support.

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Harris has more than 30 years of experience in television and radio news, including morning news anchor at WAMO-FM and national news at American Urban Radio Networks, both in Pittsburgh, and at WOWI-FM in Norfolk, Va. He came to ESPN from from WPGH-TV in Pittsburgh.

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