Stuart Scott, the ESPN anchor and reporter

Stuart Scott, the ESPN anchor and reporter whose catchphrases became part of the American popular sports vernacular for the past two decades, died Sunday morning after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 49.

"ESPN and everyone in the sports world have lost a true friend and a uniquely inspirational figure in Stuart Scott," said ESPN president John Skipper. "Who engages in mixed martial arts training in the midst of chemotherapy treatments? Who leaves a hospital procedure to return to the set?

"His energetic and unwavering devotion to his family and to his work while fighting the battle of his life left us in awe, and he leaves a void that can never be replaced."

By 2008, Scott was ubiquitous among the network's programming. He anchored late-night SportsCenter shows, hosted Monday Night Countdown on location during the NFL season, served as the lead host for NBA on ESPN and ABC and interviewed Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.

It was a workload he'd do his best to maintain during several recurrences of cancer, a diagnosis which first appeared during an emergency appendectomy in 2007. The disease reappeared in 2011, when Scott announced on Twitter that he was undergoing chemotherapy. He never revealed what kind of cancer he was fighting, and told the New York Times in March that it was not colon cancer.

By the time the illness reemerged in December 2012, Scott began to share more public details about his plight. In January 2013, he told USA TODAY about his routine at the time, which included only missing his ESPN work days for chemotherapy treatments every other Monday, after which he'd go train at a mixed-martial arts gym.

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SOurce: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2015/01/04/stuart-scott-espn-obituary-cancer/13588487/