Funeral for ESPN's Stuart Scott to be held in North Carolina

[January 10, 2015]  By Marti Maguire
 
 RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - The funeral for longtime ESPN sportscaster Stuart Scott, known for his wildly popular catchphrases including "boo-ya" and "as cool as the other side of the pillow," will be held on Saturday in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Scott died on Jan. 4 at age 49 after a long battle with cancer. After being diagnosed in 2007 following an emergency appendectomy, Scott fought through three bouts of the disease, ESPN has said.

"When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer," Scott said in his acceptance speech for the Jimmy V. Perseverance Award in July. "You beat cancer by how you live."

Scott was born in Chicago and attended high school and college in North Carolina. He worked as a local television reporter in several states before starting at ESPN in 1993.

In addition to injecting slang and enthusiasm into his broadcasts and covering many of the country's biggest sporting events, Scott interviewed major figures including President Barack Obama, who said in a statement that he would miss Scott.

Scott, whose survivors include his two teenage daughters, will be buried following his funeral at Providence Baptist Church.

(Editing by Jonathan Kaminsky and Leslie Adler)

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