Lesley Candace Visser (born September 11, 1953) is an American sportscaster, television and radio personality, and sportswriter.
Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV,[1] and the only sportscaster in history who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Figure Skating Championships and the U.S. Open network broadcasts.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman said about Visser in his 2006 induction speech, "[She] brought respect and professionalism to the field of journalism for her work in print and broadcasting.
Born on September 11, 1953, in Quincy, Massachusetts,[7] to a school teacher and engineer, Visser loved sports from an early age.
“My parents didn’t say girls can’t do that, and my mother told me, ‘Sometimes you have to cross when it says “don’t walk.”’” After graduating from South Hadley High School, Visser was educated at Boston College, majoring in English.
She also contributed to horse racing including the Triple Crown, ABC's Wide World of Sports, Major League Baseball, including the 1995 All-Star Game and World Series, figure skating, Special Olympics, skiing, the Pro Bowl, and an ABC series A Passion to Play.
For ESPN, Visser covered the Super Bowl, college basketball, figure skating, and horse racing including the Triple Crown.
She joined play-by-play announcer Howard David and analyst Boomer Esiason in the booth for Westwood One/CBS Radio.
[18] Also in 2007, Visser received the Emily Couric Leadership Award—previously given to Sandra Day O'Connor, Caroline Kennedy and Donna Brazile—and in 2007, she was honored at the 22nd Annual Sports Legend Dinner, along with Magic Johnson, Gary Player and John Elway to benefit the Buoniconti fund to cure paralysis.
[24] In 2005 she won the Pop Warner female achievement award and was inducted into the New England Sports Museum Hall of Fame, along with Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy and the 1980 United States Olympic Hockey team.
[24] Visser was honored with the Compass Award for 'changing the paradigm of her business' and was one of 100 luminaries commemorating the 75th anniversary of the CBS Television Network in 2003.
"[27][28] On June 8, 2015, Visser was inducted in the NSSA Hall of Fame, along with Bill Raftery, Hal McCoy and the late Dick Schaap.
[29] In February 2020, ESPN reported that Visser would receive the Sports Emmys Lifetime Achievement Award, the first woman to be so honored.