In March, the Association for Women in Sports Media at Oklahoma State (more commonly known as AWSM) brought in ESPN’s Linda Cohn as a guest speaker. Cohn has been a sportcaster on ESPN since 1992 and really broke the barrier for women in the business.
Cohn attributes her success to five simple words, “I won’t let you down.” Those five words landed her the job at ESPN and she been an inspiration to women in the sports media field ever since.
Cohn authored her own memoir, “Cohn-Head: A No-Holds-Barred Account of Breaking Into the Boys’ Club.” Cohn described her job at ESPN like going to work every day in a sports bar minus the alcohol.
Cohn explained that the main reason why ESPN differs from every other sports show, is because the sportscasters write their own scripts.
Cohn was able to experience Stillwater in its fully capacity starting with an O’Colly interview, eating Eskimo Joe fries, speaking with hundreds of students and ending it all with a trip to Boone Pickens Stadium.
Needless to say, Cohn was an inspirational speaker to several students aspiring to break into the field.
“She was really inspiring and gave me that push when I need it the most, find that entry level job,” Multimedia journalism student Chelsea Judge said after the event.
After several questions and quick witted humor, Cohn ended her speech with the words, “Sports save lives.” Her love for sports may have kept her passion alive but her hard work and perseverance paved the way for her to become one of the most successfully well-known women sportscasters.