Alan Massengale, whose sports broadcasting career spanned ESPN, Fox Sports, and CBSLA, amongst many other stops, has died at the age of 63 following a battle with colon cancer.
Today, we fondly remember the first anchor of Sports Central, “Legend” Alan Massengale.
Rest In Paradise, Al Daddy… & thank you for all the wonderful memories@cbsla @AlanMassengale1 pic.twitter.com/eM97E8TezH
— Sports Central LA (@SportsCentralLA) March 13, 2022
After working his way up through local news, Massengale was an early SportsCenter anchor at ESPN in the 80s. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was “the first SportsCenter anchor to report live from The Masters and the Indianapolis 500 and to host The Boston Marathon.”
After leaving that role, he would work as the lead anchor at Prime Ticket Regional Sports Network which led to a similar role with Fox Sports, often seen hosting the National Sports Report. Massengale left Fox in 1998 to become the first anchor of CBSLA’s Sports Central show, a position he held for a decade. Along with that weekly hosting gig, he also anchored KCAL9’s Los Angeles Lakers pregame and postgame shows alongside James Worthy. Golden Mike Award twice for best sportscast in Los Angeles. He received the Golden Mike awards for Best Sportscast in Los Angeles.
Massengale also did plenty of boxing coverage over the years, notably calling fights for World Series of Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions, and RingTV.
The broadcaster spent his later years in Florida. His final tweet was one urging men to get colonoscopies and monitor their health.
As Scop A Dope always says, you have be vigilant because you life depends on it!!! This fellow should one dead. Man, 35, Dies of Cancer After Struggling To Get Diagnosed Because of Age https://t.co/LLNYMdQnZ3
— Alan Massengale (@AlanMassengale1) March 9, 2022
Plenty of kind thoughts and memories about the longtime broadcaster poured in across social media as the news spread.
https://twitter.com/davesportsgod/status/1502880673899589632
I’ll never forget running into Alan Massengale a few years ago after not seeing him for awhile and how happy & full of joy he was. R.I.P.
— Jason Smith (@howaboutafresca) March 13, 2022
He will be incredibly missed ! ❤️ https://t.co/xNAk2sGUhL
— Greg Wolf (@RealGregWolf) March 13, 2022
RIP to the legend of Sports Central! https://t.co/ugPD9VzeQB
— Jose Duran (@joseduransports) March 13, 2022
