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Lindsay Czarniak

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Lindsay Czarniak
Czarniak in 2015
Born
Lindsay Ann Czarniak

1977 or 1978 (age 46–47)
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma materJames Madison University
OccupationSports anchor and reporter
Years active2000–present
Notable credit(s)The George Michael Sports Machine co-host (2005-2007)
WRC-TV sports anchor and reporter (2005-2011)
ESPN sports anchor (2011-2017)
Spouse
​
(m. 2011)​
Children2

Lindsay Ann Czarniak (born 1977 or 1978)[1][2] is an American sports anchor and reporter. She formerly worked for Fox Sports as a sideline reporter for NFL games.[3] After spending six years with WRC-TV, the NBC owned-and-operated station in Washington, D.C.,[4] Czarniak joined ESPN as a SportsCenter anchor in August 2011 and left ESPN in 2017.

She has also been a pit reporter and studio host for TNT's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage and a former co-host and reporter for the syndicated The George Michael Sports Machine. Czarniak served as a host and sportsdesk reporter for NBC Sports coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.[5]

Biography

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Early life

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Lindsay Czarniak was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.[6] Her father, Chet Czarniak, spent 17 years working in a local newspaper's sports department. Growing up a sports fan, she played lacrosse and field hockey at Centreville High School. In 2000, she graduated from James Madison University with a major in online journalism.[7][8] She was a member of the sorority Sigma Kappa.[9]

Career

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Czarniak started out as an intern for WUSA in Washington, D.C., while still a college student. Her broadcasting career began as a CNN production assistant. Her first on-air role as a news reporter occurred while working for WAWS in Jacksonville, Florida. She also worked for WTEV-TV (also in Jacksonville), WTVJ in Miami, Florida, and the Speed Channel.

In June 2005, Czarniak returned to the D.C. area and joined WRC-TV after she had received a phone call from George Michael to work as a sports anchor and reporter. She officially became the co-host of The George Michael Sports Machine in September 2006. In her first major assignment as a reporter, Czarniak traveled to Turin, Italy to relay coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics for NBC Sports. She has also served as a pit reporter in NASCAR Nationwide Series races at the Martinsville Speedway and at the IRP Busch race.

In March 2007, George Michael stepped down as WRC-TV's sports anchor. Czarniak and her colleague, Dan Hellie, then became the co-sports anchors. She was also tapped as a pit reporter for TNT's six-race Sprint Cup Series schedule from Pocono to Chicago. She remained with TNT for the same schedule in 2008.

Following the murder of free safety Sean Taylor in November 2007, Czarniak was the first sports reporter to interview team players of the Washington Redskins.

Czarniak interviews Nicklas Bäckström at the press conference announcing his signing

Czarniak made a guest appearance on the edition of May 22, 2008, of The Tony Kornheiser Show, occupying the "chick chair." On that show, she told a humorous anecdote of being arrested for expired license plates by the DC Police on her way to a News 4 interview, which turned out to be an important public service warning for those who visit Washington, D.C.

On July 17, 2008, Czarniak was honored at the Reading Phillies at Bowie Baysox doubleheader where she threw the first pitch. Czarniak also signed autographs during a meet and greet session throughout the games. Initially, Lindsay Czarniak Day was set to take place on July 21, but was changed due to a scheduling conflict. Fans at either the July 17 and the July 21 games received Lindsay Czarniak bobble heads.[10][11]

On July 29, Czarniak posted one of several blogs just before leaving for her 2008 Summer Olympics duties in Beijing, China.[12] She was a sportsdesk reporter for NBC. She also sent in blogs to the Olympics section of WRC-TV's website. Another one of her duties was hosting a half-hour show on Oxygen called Gymnastics on Oxygen. It was largely based around gymnastics and other Olympic competitions targeted toward women. It aired weekdays at 7:30 pm ET.[13]

On June 23, 2011, it was announced that Czarniak would leave WRC-TV to work at ESPN. On July 13, 2011, Czarniak made her final broadcast as a sports reporter at WRC-TV.[14][15] On August 19, 2011, Czarniak made her SportsCenter debut covering the evening's preseason football games.[16] In December 2012, she took the place of Jay Harris as co-host of the 6 pm SportsCenter after Harris moved to the 11 pm SportsCenter.

On April 24, 2013, ESPN/ABC revealed that Czarniak would be replacing Brent Musburger as the host of ABC's coverage of the 2013 Indianapolis 500. She became the first woman to ever host the telecast. She succeeded Musburger as well as previous hosts and broadcast legends Jim McKay, Keith Jackson, Paul Page, and Al Michaels. In August 2017, her contract with ESPN expired.

On February 12, 2018, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Czarniak would be joining their professional stock car racing team. She would be producing digital content during the Daytona 500 along with features on each of the team's four Monster Energy Cup Series racers.[17] Later that summer, she became one of the four presenters of the Netflix reality competition show Hyperdrive, which would be released in August 2019.[18]

On February 5, 2019, Czarniak signed with Fox Sports as a studio host for their NASCAR coverage, and as a sideline reporter for Fox’s NFL coverage.[6]

Personal life

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Czarniak's parents are Chet and Terri. Chet worked for the sports department at a Washington, D.C.-based newspaper for 17 years before becoming the current managing editor of usatoday.com.[19] Terri is a former principal at Rose Hill Elementary School, a Fairfax County public school, in Alexandria, Virginia.[20] Czarniak's brother, Andrew, is a 2005 graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy. He is currently serving in the U.S. Coast Guard.

Czarniak appeared in the 2000 independent action film Aquarius, in which she played a character named Mist.[21] In 2009, Czarniak made a cameo appearance in the indie film Ghosts Don't Exist from executive producer Chris Cooley.

Czarniak married WRC-TV reporter and weekend anchor Craig Melvin on October 15, 2011, in Washington.[22] He is currently the host of Today and a cohost of Today Third Hour. Czarniak gave birth to their first son in March 2014.[23] On June 16, 2016, Czarniak announced that she was pregnant again on SportsCenter before that night's Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals in Cleveland.[24] She gave birth to her second child, a daughter, in November 2016.[25]

References

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  1. ^ "On Love: Romance at NBC4". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018.
  2. ^ Shuster, Rachel (March 4, 2014). "The Next Generation". The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. p. 6B. Lindsay Czarniak, 36: ESPN SportsCenter anchor, last year became the first woman to host network Indianapolis 500 coverage.
  3. ^ "Lindsay Czarniak".
  4. ^ Farhi, Paul (April 12, 2010). "Sportscaster Lindsay Czarniak's career trajectory is only headed up". The Washington Post.
  5. ^ Medium Well: Your NBC Olympics lineup - A blog on sports media, news and networks - baltimoresun.com Archived November 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ a b Press Release (February 5, 2019). "FOX NASCAR Rounds Out 2019 Studio Roster with Addition of Hosts Lindsay Czarniak and Sara Walsh". FOX Sports.
  7. ^ Messages from Alumni Archived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Washington Flyer - League of Her Own". Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ^ "Significant Sigma Kappas". Significant Sigma Kappas. 2015. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  10. ^ Bowie Baysox
  11. ^ "Lindsay Czarniak Honored At Bowie Baysox Game - Sports News Story - WRC | Washington". Archived from the original on July 23, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
  12. ^ "NBCOlympics.com - Lindsay Leaves For Beijing". Archived from the original on September 9, 2008. Retrieved August 4, 2008.
  13. ^ "NBCOlympics.com - Wardrobe sneak peek". Archived from the original on September 9, 2008. Retrieved August 11, 2008.
  14. ^ Steinberg, Dan (July 14, 2011). "Lindsay Czarniak's emotional farewell to NBC". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  15. ^ Farhi, Paul (June 22, 2011). "Lindsay Czarniak, sports anchor, to leave NBC4 for ESPN". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  16. ^ Steinberg, Dan (July 1, 2011). "Lindsay Czarniak on going to ESPN". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
  17. ^ Putterman, Alex (February 14, 2018). "Lindsay Czarniak is joining Joe Gibbs Racing's team coverage for Daytona 500". Awful Announcing. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  18. ^ "Hyperdrive on Netflix: Charlize Theron's car rodeo is a gloriously full-throttle joy ride". Evening Standard. August 28, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  19. ^ "USATODAY.com". USA Today. May 16, 2005.
  20. ^ "Fairfax County Public Schools - Directory of Schools & Centers". Archived from the original on August 3, 2008. Retrieved August 4, 2008.
  21. ^ Aquarius (2000)[unreliable source?]
  22. ^ ESPN's Lindsay Czarniak and MSNBC's Craig Melvin wed
  23. ^ Heil, Emily (March 11, 2014). "Lindsay Czarniak, Craig Melvin welcome baby boy". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
  24. ^ "Bucci and Anderson announce Czarniak is pregnant on SportsCenter". ESPN. June 16, 2016. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  25. ^ Petit, Stephanie (November 6, 2016). "Craig Melvin and Lindsay Czarniak Welcome Daughter Sybil 'Sibby' Ann". People. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
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