Ashley Brewer settled into the anchor chair at ESPN's "SportsCenter," the sports network's flagship show, on Sept. 28, about to realize one of her dreams.
She was going to anchor the show. Yes, it was a fill-in gig, but still. This is something the Arizona native had worked for. Prepared for. She knew she was ready.
And then everything changed.
"Five minutes before the show started I was on set, completely ready to go, having fun, talking with my co-host," Brewer said, excitement in her voice still as she remembered. "And we get our producer in our ear and he said, 'Doc Rivers just got fired as the Clippers' head coach. We have breaking news.'
"And I'm like, no way. It felt like I was in a movie. I was like, of course this happens to me. There is no way that this was going to play out perfectly like I thought it was."
How Brewer went from 'SportsNation' to 'SportsCenter'
Except it kind of did. She did commit the network sin of calling ESPN star Stephen A. Smith"Stephen," not "Stephen A." — "which nobody does," she said. But it all worked out fine. Better than fine.
"It didn't go according to plan, but it went well enough that they asked me back the next day," Brewer said. And the day after that, and the day after that.
She continued as co-host of "SportsNation" on ESPN+ while also filling in on "SportsCenter" until three weeks ago, when her agent called.
"They had made an offer to make me a full-time host," Brewer said. "I immediately burst out into tears. I literally, for three days, I cried happy tears."
Brewer begins her new role on Aug. 17.(Previously, she was scheduled to start Aug. 16.)
That bit about the culmination of a dream is no joke.
"It's one of those things that you think about it and you dream about it," she said. "No joke, I had dreams about doing 'SportsCenter' before I even did it, because it's something I thought about so often and I wanted to do so bad ever since I got into TV."
Brewer earned All-America honors as a swimmer at ChaparralHigh School. She swam at the University of Texas and then the University of Southern California. One of five children, she grew up in a sports family. Everyone played something. Her brother Charles pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks briefly. They all were Division I athletes.
How her mother's journalism career has helped Brewer grow
"I think there's a really great culture in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area of youth sports," Brewer said. "I think that's really important, and the family values in Arizona. It was kind of the way that we grew up — we're going to this practice and that practice."
But it wasn't just a sports family. Her mother, Deborah Pyburn Brewer,was a news anchor in Phoenix for years at the old Channel 10 (KTSP), which was then a CBS affiliate.
Which did not make Brewer want to follow in her mother's footsteps.
"I never saw my mom and thought, 'Oh, I want to be a news anchor like she was.' Because I was so focused on trying to become an Olympic swimmer," Brewer said.
Besides, the subject matter didn't appeal to her.
"I definitely didn't want to be in the news, because I felt like that was way too serious," Brewer said. "I wanted to have fun and talk about sports, and I've always just loved sports."
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Her mother watches all her broadcasts, Brewer said. It's been a benefit to have someone so close who knows the ups and downs — of which there are many — of a TV career.
"I've been able to call her after bad shows," Brewer said, "and talk to her about those shows and come back the next day and pick it up. I've had to talk to her about conflict, whether it's on-air or off-air or in the workplace, whatever it may be.
"And she just gives me great feedback. 'Do less of this, tone this down, cut your hair, don't wear that color, don't wear that dress again.' I mean, it's really great and it's very specific and sometimes they're things that no one else will tell you, but your mom always will."
So in some ways a combination of sports and TV seems like a natural fit. And "SportsCenter" was always the goal.
"Really, for any kid growing up in the '90s like I did, you eat breakfast every morning watching 'SportsCenter,'"she said. "And you come home from school and you'd watch "SportsCenter." And it was always on and it was always — especially in my family, a sports family — what was on our TV 24/7."
After graduating from USC, Brewer worked as a sideline reporter in Phoenix, then as a sports anchor in Tucson. From there she went to Los Angeles, working as a sports reporter and weekend anchor — perfect for her because that’s where her family had relocated.
'I consider this a homecoming'
Finally, in 2020, ESPN came calling. And with it the chance to realize her ultimate goal.
"That's why I decided to move my entire life out here to Bristol, Connecticut, to pursue the dream of just to even get on 'SportsCenter' like once," she said. "That was really what I was hoping for, was an opportunity. … I knew if I could get just one opportunity I could prove to them what I was able to do and what my talents were. I just wanted a chance."
She got it and she did. And now she gets to move back to LA. She will be part of a four-person LA-based "SportsCenter" rotation that includes Neil Everett, Stan Verrett and Linda Cohn.
"I consider this a homecoming," Brewer said. "Family to me is everything. … So now to be able to go back home and to have my family and my career all together is just the greatest thing, and the greatest blessing I could ever ask for."
ESPN is no stranger to off-camera drama. So far, Brewer has avoided it. She plans to continue to.
"That stuff goes on," she said. "And that's TV. That's kind of life. It's inevitable. But I know that I can control my narrative, and I can control my story by just being a good friend and a good co-worker and just a good employee of the network."
Tunnel vision helps.
"When I'm on campus I'm there to host 'SportsCenter,' and that's exactly it," she said. "I want to have a very long career at ESPN. And I think the best way to do that is by putting your head down and working."
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.
