John Edward Bayless II known by his professional name Skip Bayless is a renowned American sports columnist, television personality and author. Bayless gained recognition for his work at the ESPN2 network’s sports program ‘First Take’ on which he was a commentator alongside Stephen A. Smith. He served as the show’s commentator from 2007-2016. Since September 2016, Bayless has been serving as a commentator on the Fox Sports 1 show Skip and Shannon: Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe.
Before he was a commentator, Bayless served as a print journalist working at publications such as ‘The Miami Herald’, ‘The Los Angeles Times’, ‘The Dallas Morning News’, ‘Dallas Times Herald’, and the ‘Chicago Tribune’. He also hosted a sports talk show on the radio networks KLIF, KTCK and ESPN Radio. Bayless has received an Emmy nomination and is a recipient of the Webby People’s Voice Award among other honours felicitated to him.
Early Life and Education
Born as John Edward Bayless II on 4 December 1951 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Bayless was nicknamed ‘Skip’ by his father right since his birth and opted to legally change his name to Skip Bayless as an adult. He is the son of Levita and John Sr. Bayless. His parents owned the Hickory House restaurant, Oklahoma City. Bayless has two siblings, a younger sister and a younger brother named Rick who is a well-known chef, restaurant owner and television personality.
Bayless attended the Northwest Classen High School, Oklahoma City and graduated in 1970. He was awarded the Grantland Rice Scholarship upon graduation and attended Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, from where he graduated in 1974 with majors in History and English.
Career Rise
Bayless started a career in print journalism in the mid-70s, writing sports features for ‘The Miami Herald’ for 2 years. He was then hired by the ‘Los Angeles Times’ where he worked on sports stories and gained recognition for his investigative stories. Bayless moved to ‘The Dallas Morning News’ and later the ‘Dallas Times Herald’, serving as the lead sports columnist for both publications. He became the ‘Chicago Tribune’s lead sports columnist in 1998 and served there until 2001. He has also written articles for ‘Sports Illustrated’. Bayless also worked in radio for 13 years, hosting sports talk shows on networks like KLIF and KTKC, hosting ‘The Skip Bayless Show’ on the latter. He served as a guest on ESPN radio’s ‘The Fabulous Sports Babe’. he was named the primary guest host of ‘the Jim Rome Show’ and soon started co-hosting a show on ESPN radio.
Bayless became a regular on the Sunday Morning show on ESPN in the early 2000’s and served as a commentator for the Golf Channel. He made regular appearances on Fox Sport’s ‘The Last word’ hosted by Jim Rome, while also appearing on ‘The Best Damn Sports Show Period’ and ‘Rome is Burning’on the network. Bayless was hired by ESPN in 2004 serving on ESPN2’s show ‘Cold Pizza’ and was also tasked with writing columns for ESPN.com. The show was later renamed ‘First Take’. Bayless appeared on ‘First Take’ for the final time in June 2016 and soon moved to FOX where he debuted his show Skip and Shannon: Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe on Fox Sports 1.
Personal Life
Bayless has been married twice. Bayless was first married to his high school sweetheart when he was very young but the marriage did not last for long. He was then involved in a series of romantic relationships with four different women.
Bayless met publicist Ernestine Sclafani on the set of his show ‘First Take’ and the couple became friends instantly. After dating secretly for several years, the couple tied the knot in a secret ceremony and did not reveal about their marriage for several months. The couple do not have any children.Ernestine Sclafani is the VP of Shandwick Public Relations.
Skip Bayless – Salary and Net Worth
Bayless draws an annual salary of approximately $4 Million and has an estimated net worth of approximately $7 Million.