Long before he began his storied career as a sportscaster, Kenny Mayne played a little football.
Many sports fans who know Mayne from his roles at ESPN and elsewhere might be surprised to know he played quarterback for two seasons with UNLV (he also later had a short stint with the Seattle Seahawks).
Mayne returned to UNLV Tuesday to watch Rebels football practice. Now in his early 60s, Mayne is a little grayer than fans remember from his 27-year stint at ESPN, but he definitely hasn’t lost his sense of humor and quick wit.
After watching practice, Mayne walked into the UNLV media room and sat down as if he were Rebels head coach Barry Odom. After acknowledging an old classmate in the room, he launched into a faux coach routine.
“So, we learned a lot from last week,” Mayne said. “Even in defeat, there can be a victory if you apply yourself. We’re just going to go back to the grind. We’re going back to film, regular film, we’re not using video anymore. Just taking it old school, got to thread the projector.
“Any questions?”
When no one spoke up, Mayne said, “I’d like to announce a couple of new NILs.”
Mayne then turned serious.
“Truly, great to be back,” he said. “Love the success, and it was pretty cool watching practice.”
Odom took over the podium and cracked his own joke about Mayne trying to get out on the field.
“He just kept trying to jump in seven-on-seven and throw the ball around,” Odom said. “So we kept him off the field. I didn’t want him to hurt any of our good players, so we kept him back.
“It’s great … he had an opportunity, he’s in the city for some meetings and wanted to stop by. That means a great deal to me. … I think there’s some guys that took pride in him being here, and that’s awesome.”
[Steve Cofield, ESPN Las Vegas; Photo Credit: Steve Cofield, ESPN Las Vegas]
