One of the hardest working people in sports media calls the Valley home. Her name is Sarah Kezele and, if you don’t know her name already, you will soon.
I first had the pleasure of meeting Sarah when she returned to Arizona from a stint with the Pac-12 Network in the Bay Area. She reached out to me via Twitter out of the blue asking if I’d like to grab a coffee and talk about the media business. I had worked with and am friends with Sarah’s significant other and happily obliged. Within minutes of sitting down, I was floored by her passion for and knowledge of the business. It was clear her passion would carry her a long way.
Since then, she’s become a staple in the afternoons on Arizona Sports as a part of both Bickley and Marotta and Burns and Gambo shows along with doing updates. That’s not all though. She hosts Arizona Prep Spotlight on FOX Sports Arizona, is the emcee for Arizona Wildcats Football, has been an online host for USA Today Sports, and finds the time to be a quality follow on Twitter as well.
With all of that on her plate, she somehow even found time to do her best Andy Dufresne impression slogging through the long sewer pipe that is the Dry Heat Index Four and making it to the other end.
Is the most random fact people don’t know about you that you were a competitive, championship-winning cheerleader?
Sarah Kezele: I didn’t know people would be so fascinated with that factoid! Indeed, competitive cheer was a huge part of my life back in the day: I competed for seven years and coached for another two. Some days I wish I could still throw a crazy tumbling pass, but those days are definitely done.
Let’s give you something truly random: Want to hear about my first celebrity encounter? I was covering Rob Gronkowski and the Arizona Wildcats at the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl on my first road trip as a student journalist. It was colder than cold and I was frozen stiff on the sidelines … until I realized I was feet away from David Hasselhoff. One of his daughters was a freshman at Arizona that year, so he was rooting for the ‘Cats that night. I got bold and asked him to do a quick promo on camera for UATV, our student-run TV station, and it still airs on occasion.
The Hoff! How’s THAT for random?
What made you want to become a sports journalist, and what has driven you to work so hard to make it happen?
Kezele: I’d known for most of high school that I wanted to work in sports in one way or another, but I didn’t know how until the beginning of my senior year.
Four or five weeks into the high school football season, Channel 3 came to Cactus Shadows to do their morning show from our football field. Our team was still undefeated, which was a huge deal for the program at the time. Of course, being on the CSHS cheer team, we were there at an ungodly hour for the reporter to do his live hits throughout the morning. Except the reporter, Brad Perry, slept through his alarm and was not going to make it to Cave Creek in time. So guess who stepped in for him until he arrived? Never had I ever considered pursuing broadcasting, but it all clicked into place that day.
Since then, I discovered that meeting new people and sharing their stories is the perfect fit for me. I truly can’t imagine doing anything else, and I owe it all to a sleepy Brad Perry!
What is your favorite career moment and one moment you wish you could have back so far in your career?
Kezele: My favorite moment is an easy one. For about 18 months I covered the West Coast Conference for Campus Insiders (now known as Stadium) and was part of the WCC’s 2017 Hall of Honor induction ceremony the week of the conference’s basketball tournament. I got to interview some pretty incredible people on stage that day, including former Phoenix Mercury coach Paul Westhead.
But the absolute highlight for me was my time with basketball great John Stockton, who was being inducted for his time with Gonzaga. He never seemed to like media attention during his NBA days, so I was nervous that he wouldn’t be terribly talkative. Turns out he was ready to have fun that day.
As for the do-over, I had to think hard about this one because, fortunately, I don’t have a lot of regrets. There isn’t a specific moment I would take back, but rather a larger pattern in the early years of my career. I wish I had spent less time worrying about my trajectory in this industry and comparing my path to the paths of my peers. All that did was make me feel bad about myself. Not too productive!
I’ll still fall into that trap every once in a blue moon — it’s hard not to with everyone’s best moments splashed all over social media — but I’ve learned to celebrate what I have accomplished rather than lamenting what I haven’t.
What is one thing you truly believe in?
Kezele: I believe in knowing your worth and betting on yourself, personally and professionally. I’ve made some risky (even borderline reckless?) moves throughout my career, but only because I knew I was capable of more.
The best part: I’ve never once regretted pushing for what I want, even when it meant walking away from a good thing. I don’t like living with what-ifs, so I don’t give myself the chance to wonder. Go find out!
