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Jemele Hill Praises Black ESPN Announcer For Making History

Originally posted on The Spun | By Andrew Gould | Last updated Apr 24, 2025 1:54 PM ET

Tiffany Greene has set a trail-blazing path during her ESPN broadcasting career.

In 2017, Greene became the first Black woman to work as a college football play-by-play announcer for a major network. The former sideline reporter has called the FCS Playoffs, Division II Football National Championship, and other sports for ESPN.

Greene recently discussed that feat on Jemele Hill's Spolitics podcast. The former ESPN personality posted a clip of the interview promoting Greene's "amazing career journey" on social media.

Greene recalled first learning she was about to make history a few days before calling her first college football game. She wished she didn't know beforehand.

"All it did was add more pressure," Greene told Hill. "Like, are you kidding me? Here I am, a young co-play-by-play, trying to make my national debut for football, a sport that obviously everyone is watching in America and cares about deeply. And you're gonna tell me that?

"So the pressure was mounting. It was certainly great, and it didn't fall on me the significance of what it meant to be in that moment."

Greene felt an oversized burden to succeed and open the door for more Black women to follow in her footsteps.

"So the idea is like, I'm just trying not to screw it up," she continued. "I'm just trying to go out there and do what you've been training to do and preparing to do. You hear that all the time, but like I was just like, I don't want to F this up because who knows when the next Black woman will have this opportunity to sit in this chair."

Hill noted that Greene remains the first and only Black woman to hold the distinction as a full-time football announcer for a major network. Greene called that fact "disappointing" while sending a rallying cry to others attempting to break the glass ceiling she has yet to fully shatter.

"It's sad, right? Like, everybody needs to catch up," Greene said. "... My hope is that this is a message to all the young minority, Black play-by-plays. This is your opportunity. This your time. We're looking for, and the audience, I think, is hungry for representation and different voices."

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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