Sager worked as a sideline reporter pacing the floors of the National Basketball Association, as he invariably sported one of his vast collection of garishly eccentric jackets and suits.

[1] During the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, Sager was named the 2017 recipient of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Media Award.

It drew editorial accolades from conservative newspapers around the country for his declaration that he was an "untypical teen" of the silent majority that was not part of any protest movement and "happy we were born in America and not in Havana, Moscow, or Peiping".

[9] He worked as a radio news director in 1974, making $95 a week for his efforts, a paltry sum which was supplemented by his access to sports events.

[3] The young reporter was later remembered by Major League Baseball hall of famer George Brett from an encounter at spring training as a "tireless worker" who would set up and focus the camera before conducting his own interview, essentially becoming a "one-man crew".

[7] In 1987, Sager moved to work full-time at the TBS division, hosting a 30-minute Sunday night program called The Coors Sports Page[12] as well as handling halftime reports of Atlanta Hawks games.

[14] A natural entertainer, Sager was famous for his garish choices of clothing—an immense array of sport coats and suits described as "loud," "colorful," and "lively".

One reporter investigating Sager's accumulated wardrobe stored within the jocular interviewer's home tallied 137 jackets before giving up, without even counting the garments contained in other closets scattered throughout the house.

[7] Sager also served as a sideline reporter for the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, both for Turner Sports and CBS with Marv Albert, Chris Webber, and Len Elmore.

[18][19][20] With his life nearing its end, in June 2016, Sager was loaned by Time Warner's Turner Sports to rival Disney's ESPN to cover his first NBA Finals.

[23] In a moving acceptance speech to those gathered and to a national television audience, the terminally ill Sager said: Time is something that cannot be bought; it cannot be wagered with God, and it is not in endless supply.

[26] At the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, Sager was named the winner of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's 2017 Curt Gowdy Media Award.

[28][29] His son, Craig II, was deemed a match for bone marrow transplant, and Sager underwent the treatment, pushing his cancer into remission.

[35] He was memorialized during that evening's broadcast of a game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Chicago Bulls on the Inside the NBA pregame show, with players of each team wearing tribute T-shirts during warmups designed to look like one of Sager's signature gaudy suits.

[38] On July 13, 2017, NBA Hall of Famer Dan Issel served as speaker at an event at Batavia High School's gymnasium to honor Sager.

[42] Craig II also filled in as a sideline reporter during his father's absence in 2014, and is the managing editor for ScoreATL, which covers Georgia high school sports.