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Pioneering journalist Jackie MacMullan announced her plans to retire from ESPN on Wednesday (August 18).
MacMullan, who was one of the first women to cover the NBA and remained a staple of NBA media for 40 years, revealed her final day at ESPN will be August 31, according to an ESPN pressroom news release.
“I feel fortunate to have collaborated with so many incredibly talented people during my 10-plus years at ESPN,” MacMullan said in the news release. “Sometimes you just know when you’re ready to dial it back, and this is the right time for me. I’m grateful for the memories, but especially for the friends I’ve made along the way. Thank you to my ESPN colleagues for all of your support.”
MacMullan is the first woman to receive the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. The veteran journalist also earned numerous national awards from the Associated Press for her investigative and feature writing, having served as a sports columnist and editor for the Boston Globe -- becoming the first female columnist in the history of the newspaper and eventual associate editor --for more than 20 years.
MacMullan joined ESPN as a senior writer and on-air personality in 2010, which includes making nearly 900 appearances as a mainstay on Around The Horn, as well as SportsCenter, Outside the Lines, and The Jump.
“Jackie is a trailblazer not because she was one of the first women covering sports or the NBA," said Christina Daglas, ESPN senior deputy editor. "Rather, Jackie is a trailblazer because people talked about her without mentioning sex or gender. It was about the work, an incredible catalogue of work, that has appeared on every ESPN platform. Simply put, Jackie is one of the greatest journalists ESPN has ever seen. And she did it all while providing mentorship to both editors and writers, ensuring whether she meant to or not, that pieces of her will remain here long after she exits.”
MacMullan is scheduled to appear on Wednesday's episode of The Jump and will make her final Around the Horn appearance on August 31.