Quick Facts
Biography
Robert Lee is an American sportscaster for ESPN. Lee received a considerable amount of publicity when he was asked by ESPN to move from announcing a University of Virginia versus William and Mary football game to another college football game. This happened as a result of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville over the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee who he has the same name as.
Early life
From 1995 to 1999, Lee attended Syracuse University. He received his B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Early career
Lee was formally the Assistant Sports Information Director for Siena College. He was the main primary television, newspaper and radio media contact for seven of Siena's athletic programs. Lee was also a daily television show host for Capital OTB during 2012 Saratoga horse racing season. There he conducted interviews with trainers, jockeys and other horse professionals.
Sports broadcasting
Since 2000, Lee has been the play-by-play announcer for Siena's Men’s Basketball team on television and radio. He also hosted a weekly radio show with interviews with Siena's basketball coaches. As well as calling men's basketball for Siena's Men's Basketball team, Lee also is an announcer for Time Warner and ESPN. Lee started announcing football and basketball games for Time Warner in 2003 and for ESPN in 2016. In his time at ESPN, Lee has called games online for ESPN 3 or on national television for ESPNU. Lee has called games for conferences including the Big South, MAAC, Ohio Valley Conference, ACC, American Athletic Conference and the A-10. He has also called several FCS football playoff games.
Name controversy
A white nationalist rally occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia on the campus of the University of Virginia, to protest the removal of Confederate General, Robert E. Lee's statue. The protest resulted in the death of a 31-year-old woman, Heather Heyer.
Robert Lee, was scheduled to announce the university's first home football game on ESPN 3, but had his assignment switched to the Youngstown State versus Pittsburgh University game. ESPN claimed the assignment switch came “simply because of the coincidence of his name." However, the network's decision was met with criticism. It was called "pathetic" on Fox News and another conservative news network said the decision was due to "Avoid[ing] Offending Idiots." Even former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee mocked ESPN's decision.
Personal life
Lee currently lives in Albany, New York with his wife and daughter. He is also fluent in Mandarin.