KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Dec. 19, 2023) – Rob Stone, studio host for a wide variety of events at Fox Sports including the marquee soccer events, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Jerry Yeagley Award for Exceptional Personal Achievement. He will be honored during the annual All-America Ceremony on Saturday, January 13, 2024, in conjunction with the 84th United Soccer Coaches Convention in Anaheim, Calif.
The award is presented to a former collegiate soccer student-athlete who has demonstrated extraordinary accomplishments and service beyond the sport itself. The award is named in honor of the legendary Indiana University men’s soccer coach (1973-2003) who won 544 games and captured six NCAA championships.
“Rob Stone is a most deserving recipient of the Jerry Yeagley Award, said United Soccer Coaches President Dr. David Carr. He has had an outstanding career in sports broadcasting and has been a fixture on the biggest soccer broadcasts that all of us in the game so thoroughly enjoy.”
Stone, a 1991 graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., was an all-conference midfielder for the Red Raiders and team captain his senior year. Following his graduation, he was hired at ESPN in 1992 as a production assistant for SportsCenter and other shows. He moved on to do local television sports in the Albany, Ga., and Tampa, Fla., markets before returning to ESPN in 1997.
It was during Stone’s second stint at the network that he expanded his coverage of soccer on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. He covered four FIFA World Cups and 12 MLS Cups during that time. He also began to show his versatility, working a variety of other assignments including college football and basketball as well as such wide-ranging events as the 2006 World Series of Darts, the 2007 Triple Crown horseracing events (Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes) and became the voice of the Professional Bowlers Association Tour on ESPN with his signature catchphrases and other “Stone-isms” that became popular among the bowling fans.
Stone joined Fox Sports in 2012 to become a studio host for soccer broadcasts, college football and college basketball programming, but it was his soccer work at the Fox Sports Media Group of stations that thrust him into the spotlight as one of the most recognizable television personalities in the game. His assignments included serving as the lead studio host for Fox for multiple FIFA World Cups including most recently the women in Australia & New Zealand 2023, the men in Qatar 2022, the women in France 2019, the men in Russia 2018 and the women in Canada 2015. His soccer broadcasting career at Fox has also included coverage of Major League Soccer, the United States Men’s and Women’s National Teams, Copa America, Gold Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, England’s FA Cup and more.
Stone has become one of the network’s most versatile on-air personalities, serving as regular studio host for its coverage of college football and basketball broadcasts as well as occasional substitute host for Fox’s coverage of Major League Baseball. He also has returned as the voice of bowling for the PBA Tour events on Fox.
A native of Simsbury, Conn., Stone was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame in 2018. He currently resides in the Los Angeles, California area with his wife Lynn and their four children.