Skip Bayless is the host of the sports opinion and debate show SKIP AND SHANNON: UNDISPUTED,
airing weekdays on FS1. The award-winning journalist, author and TV personality squares off opposite co-host Shannon Sharpe, discussing the day’s top sports topics.
Bayless joined FOX Sports in September 2016,
after several years with ESPN. He hosted FIRST TAKE on ESPN2 alongside Stephen A.
Smith and began his tenure with the network in 2004 on ESPN2’s COLD PIZZA.
Bayless has enjoyed a long and storied journalism career and worked with FOX Sports in the past.
In 2001 and 2002, Bayless appeared regularly on Jim Rome's show THE LAST WORD on FOX Sports Net ,
and also made frequent appearances on FOX Sports’ THE BEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW PERIOD.
Bayless began his career writing for newspapers, including as the lead sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune
. He also spent time at the Dallas Morning News, Dallas Times Herald, Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times.
He won numerous awards for his journalism. While at the Chicago Tribune,
Bayless was voted Illinois Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in 2000.
Bayless was voted Texas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association three times (1979, 1984 and 1986) ,
and won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Newspaper Writing in 1977 for his coverage of Seattle Slew's Triple Crown victory while at the Los Angeles Times.
Bayless has written for various national sports publications, including Sports Illustrated.
He has also worked in sports radio and television and has authored three books.
Bayless attended Vanderbilt University, where he majored in English and history,
and graduated cum laude in 1974. He was the sports editor of The Hustler, the university's student newspaper,
and spent the summer of 1969 interning under sports editor Frank Boggs at The Daily Oklahoman. Bayless grew up in Oklahoma City.