On Monday September 23, 2019, Woody Paige became the first panelist on ESPN’s long-running, hit show Around the Horn to notch 600 (it was his 600.5th to be exact) career wins.
In honor of his monumental career milestone, Paige’s colleagues on the show put together the following tribute video to honor his accomplishment:
ATH host Tony Reali kicks things off by calling Paige his all-time favorite panelist, saying, “I’m not here unless you’re there, Woody.”
Reali also admits to stiffing Paige out of at least 300 more victories.
Legendary sportswriter Bob Ryan, one of the show’s original panelists, added, “it quickly became very evident that it was the Woody Paige Show, and we [Ryan and Tim Cowlishaw] were the Jordanaires.”
Clinton Yates, Cowlishaw, Mina Kimes, Frank Isola, Kevin Blackistone, Sarah Spain, Jorge Sedano, Emily Kaplan, J.A. Adande, Bill Plaschke, Israel Gutierrez, and Jackie MacMullan all recorded messages for Paige on landmark victory.
Adande’s words were definitely one of the highlights of the montage.
“You know maybe the greatest honor might come from, name drop here, a conversation I had with Michael Jordan talking about Around the Horn. He said, ‘I love your boy, though.’ I said, ‘who? Woody?’ He said, ‘yep.'”
Around the Horn premiered on November 2, 2002 with Max Kellerman as the show’s original host. When Kellerman moved on to Fox Sports, Reali took over and has been hosting the show ever since.
Throughout the years, the show has featured some of the biggest names in sports media including: Adam Schefter, Gene Wonciechowski, Andy Katz, Michael Smith and all of the aforementioned individuals.
Despite all of the show’s success, Paige himself was skeptical at first. “After the first reviews of the show, I thought Around The Horn and I wouldn’t last more than a few months,” Paige said (via ESPN PR). “I even called Jim Cohen, who oversaw ATH for the network, and told him I should quit because I stunk. Even my friends in the newspaper business were ripping the show. I couldn’t sleep.
Then, I covered a college football game, and more than 100 students came up and wanted autographs and to talk about ATH. I realized that perhaps the show was for a younger audience, and they kind of thought of me as the weird uncle.”
For more subscribe to the Around the Horn YouTube channel (@ATHonESPN), and follow Around the Horn on Twitter (@AroundtheHorn) and Instagram (@ATHonESPN).
Love ATH one of my favorite shows on television. Definitely the best sports talk show on ESPN out of all the great shows. Like everyone but especially Woody and Toni Really. Keep up the good work Woody and thanks for representing the Rocky Mountain region.