Announcer Kate Scott reflects on trailblazing career after covering Seahawks preseason

Multi-sport play-by-play announcer Kate Scott just wrapped up another preseason with the Seattle Seahawks alongside local football legends Michael Robinson, Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril in the booth. When Scott first joined the crew, she was placed in the unenvious position of replacing Curt Menefee, the NFL on FOX host who called Seahawks preseason football for more than a decade.

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“Brian O’Connell called me and said, ‘Curt’s been super busy with his FOX stuff. We’ve loved him for a decade, but he’s ready to move on. We’re looking for a new preseason voice and you’re on our list,'” Scott told Gee Scott on The Reset.

Once she agreed to the gig, Scott became the only woman to have done play-by-play for the NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA Division 1 football and the Olympics.

“Look, preseason football should be fun because there are so many guys, and half of them aren’t even going to make the roster. We want to keep people tuned in until the second half and have fun,” Scott said on working the preseason. “We’ve got such incredible former players who are part of our broadcast. We want them to shine. We want fans to have fun.”

Preseason football was a bit of a departure for Scott, whose “day” job is leading the broadcast booth as the play-by-play announcer for the Philadelphia 76ers. Scott said the difference between calling the two sports was a lot initially, acknowledging the different pace and urgency each sport requires. But she couldn’t shake how similar — and rabid — Seattle and Philadelphia’s fan bases are.

“There’s so many similarities too. The fan bases are crazy,” Scott told Gee. “I love that. They’re known as the 12s here in Seattle, and everybody knows that Philly sports fans are crazy in the best way. I love them, and they both make you earn it, right? They both have been such important franchises in their respective leagues for a number of years.”

Scott added that it’s an “incredible honor” to be a small part of these franchises.

Women in sports continues to grow fervently

“There were less than 10 women who were in sports when I was in high school,” Scott said, reflecting on her journey. “I thought I was going to be a teacher. My mom was a special education teacher and I wanted to have a positive impact on the youth of the next generation.”

But her obsession with sports was obvious to everyone except herself. Scott played in four varsity sports, covered sports for the high school newspaper and was the PA announcer for the men’s soccer team all while leading cheers during Friday night football games.

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“I was told maybe I should do something in sports when I go to college, but there were so few women doing that at that time,” Scott said. “It’ was like Robin Roberts, Linda Cohn on SportsCenter and a couple of sideline reporters here and there. So I went to Cal and majored in communications, but I still didn’t know if I wanted to do this. I didn’t start calling games until after I graduated because, again, there were so few women doing it. I just never thought that I could be that one of the first.”

Scott started as a sideline reporter for the San Jose Earthquakes while covering Bay Area sports for KNBR before joining the PAC-12 Network to focus on play-by-play for football, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, softball and volleyball. In 2016, she became the first woman to call an NFL game on the radio when she did NFL preseason games for the San Francisco 49ers.

“There has been such a dramatic shift. I was talking earlier about there being fewer than 10 women 20 years ago when I started this climb, and now there are so many,” Scott said. “But to me, it’s not just about the numbers, it’s the quality of the work. It’s them earning their positions while being a woman on top of that.”

When Scott landed the job as the 76ers’ play-by-play broadcaster, she also became the second woman to do a full-time play-by-play role for a major men’s professional sports team, after Lisa Byington for the Milwaukee Bucks.

“I love mentoring the next generation — guys, girls, whoever. Whoever has the passionate drive like me that wants to be here,” Scott said. “There were no women who were doing play-by-play. They were all anchors and reporters and hosts, which I completely understood. Now, I’m mentoring more female play-by-play announcers than I can count. Women who come out of college knowing they wanted to do it. Women who were anchors and reporters who have transitioned into play-by-play because they really know their specific sport. That’s one of the proudest things, that change happening in real time.”

Kate Scott’s sit down with Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald

“You had an opportunity to meet the new head coach, Mike Macdonald,” Gee said. “Give us the goods. What should we like about this guy?”

“His openness and his honesty is so refreshing,” Scott replied. “I’ve run into so many young coaches at every level in every sport who, understandably, think they have to keep things really close to the chest and are buttoned up. And you can sense like a tightness because of it, and I think that impedes their coaching and everything about building their culture. You can tell already Mike is one million percent himself, even though this is his first gig.”

Macdonald spent nine of the previous 10 years as a part of the Baltimore Ravens coaching staff, starting as an intern and defensive assistant before climbing all the way up to defensive coordinator.

Macdonald’s 2023 defense became the first in NFL history to finish first in each of the following categories: points allowed (16.5), sacks (60) and takeaways (31). His defense also led the league in point differential (+203) and turnover margin (+12).

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I was over at VMAC (Virginia Mason Athletic Center) earlier and talked to Julian Love and D.K. Metcalf about just what an open coach he is and the entire staff,” Scott said. “Like if something’s taking a while for you to learn, ‘OK, let’s talk about it. How can I help you learn this scheme, this formation quicker?’ There’s an urgency as well. Like, ‘This is Year One, and I know the expectations are low and nobody’s expecting stuff of us, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect stuff.’ Like, this is the Seattle Seahawks. We are Super Bowl champions. We want to get back there as quickly as possible, right? I love that urgency.”

Scott’s greatest moment as an announcer

“What’s one player that, while you were covering a game, there was just a glow and a separation,” Gee asked Kate Scott. “The player was just moving differently.”

“I was lucky enough to, first of all, cover Joel Embiid during his MVP season. But last year, he became the first Philadelphia 76er, and there’s been some good dudes — Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, Moses Malone — to score 70 points in a game, and I was on the call. This was just a random Monday night game against the San Antonio Spurs, and Joel just decides he’s going to go off for 70, but he did it in like 35 minutes. It was one of those moments where I had to remind myself you were calling this game. You can’t just sit here with your mouth open because we were all in awe of what he was doing.”

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.