About Lesley Visser

By Allie Kessel

Lesley Visser was born in Quincy, Massachusetts and graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in English. Visser is well-known for many firsts.

She was the first and only woman enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the first woman to cover an NFL beat, be assigned to Monday Night Football, be assigned to a Super Bowl sideline, first woman sportscaster to carry the Olympic torch, handle a Super Bowl trophy presentation and the first male or female to ever work on the network broadcast of the Final Four, Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Triple Crown, Olympics, U.S. Open and World Figure Skating Championship.

Later, Visser chose to return to CBS in 2000, where she became a contributor for “The NFL Today,” college basketball, figure skating and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships.

She first joined CBS in 1984, during which time she was able to become the first woman to handle the postgame presentation ceremony at the Super Bowl and witness firsthand the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.