After fighting her way up the sports media ladder, Erin Andrews briefly climbed back down Wednesday to return to where her career started.
Accent Speakers’ Bureau and the Women’s Student Association paid Andrews, a UF alumna and ESPN sideline reporter, $15,000 to speak at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
Andrews’ bubbly personality raised many laughs from her audience of about 500.
She was forced to decline an invitation to a fraternity member’s formal and poked fun of a front-row fan sporting an Indiana jersey.
“Why are you wearing that?” Andrews joked.
But her famous looks and Gator roots are not the only traits that attracted the crowds.
Telecommunication freshman Megan Gannon, 19, who waited in front of the Phillips Center for three hours to see Andrews, said she idolizes the reporter and wants to work alongside her one day.
“I like how opinionated she is,” Gannon said. “She speaks very well as a woman in a male-dominated profession.”
Andrews graduated from UF in 2000 with a degree in telecommunications. During her time in Gainesville, she was a member of the Dazzlers, the official dance team for UF athletics.
Andrews said she knows she is one of the prominent females in her field and it only makes her work harder to prove herself to her peers.
“I’m a huge sports fan,” Andrews said, “and I’ve met the male sports fans that don’t know as much as I do. Every day, I try so hard to prove to people I belong.”
While Andrews has fought hard to earn her credibility, several male viewers said they don’t doubt her abilities.
“It shouldn’t matter whether you’re a man or woman,” said Alex Everett, a 21-year-old chemical engineering senior. “She’s a good reporter, no matter what.”
Erin Andrews speaks at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday night.
