Hannah Storm is an award-winning journalist, producer and director, a pioneer in the field of sports broadcasting for women, an advocate for children suffering vascular anomalies, and a published author.
She joined ESPN in 2008 and serves as an anchor for Sports Center, NFL Live, the Rose Parade, and the New York and Boston Marathons. She is host of the award-winning iHeart podcast “NBA DNA with Hannah Storm” and director of the award-winning docu-series “Grails: When Sneakers Change the Game” on HULU. Storm became the first woman ever to do play–by– play for the NFL for an entire season, which she did for 4 years on Amazon Prime. In addition, Storm was the first play-by-play voice for the WNBA, on NBC.
Storm has also worked for ABC News and co-hosted The Early Show on CBS, covering major news events and conducting interviews with top newsmakers and entertainers. Prior to that, at NBC Sports, Storm became the first woman in American TV history to act as the main network host of a major league sport, when she hosted NBC’s Major League Baseball coverage, the NBA on NBC and the Olympic Games. Before that, Storm was the first female host of CNN Sports Tonight.
In 2008 Storm created Brainstormin’ Productions. She has produced, executive produced and directed award- winning films, series and branded content for ESPN, the SEC Network, ABC Network, HULU, Epix and iHeart Radio.
Born with a port wine stain underneath her left eye, Storm created the Hannah Storm Foundation to raise awareness, and fund surgeries for children suffering from vascular anomalies. In addition, Storm provides journalism internships at her alma mater Notre Dame and due to a recent breast cancer diagnosis, has become an advocate for early detection and testing.
Storm is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the mother of three daughters with her husband, Dan Hicks of NBC Sports.
Hannah Storm
Sometimes, even now, I can still feel the pull of those scars. Later, I had a tattoo, “flesh-colored” according to the well-meaning doctor. But in reality, a pasty off-white color that still stands in contrast to the deep red marks of the port-wine stain. In high school and college, the Laser was the new solution, but one that left painful third degree burns under my eye. After two treatments, the second of which left me in uncontrollable teenage tears, I was done, no more treatments.
Unfortunately, the self-consciousness remained. Not wanting to swim with the boys, for fear the concealer might wash off. The wearing of too-dark eyeliner in college to distract from what was underneath my eye. I loved the theater, in part, because the makeup transformed me. When I don’t wear it, I actually look like I have a black eye. The comments from others range from “Who hit you?” and “What happened to your face?” to “Did you make your boyfriend/husband mad?”. Even as a mother of three, the statements carry a sting. There are times when my own children, however sweetly, still ask me to wear makeup to the bus stop. At work, after cleaning my face following my shift at ESPN, I still have to fight the urge not to put on sunglasses, indoors. Oftentimes I wonder if those I encounter on the way out the door notice my birthmark or how different I look when not wearing makeup. For the most part, others are too busy to notice or care, but the thoughts are always there, tugging at the corners of your mind. That is also the blessing; the knowledge that I am loved and that it has nothing to do with the way I look. The friends who never even “see” my birthmark, the gratitude for parents who made me believe that I could do whatever I wanted…even if that meant being in front of a camera and the belief that with hard work and faith I could accomplish my dreams, despite any limitations.
And so…a kiss from an angel? Yes, I believe it.