Renowned Greek-American CNN Sports Reporter Nick Charles Dies at 64

Greek-American sports anchor, Nick Charles, died Saturday after battling bladder cancer since 2009. He was 64. Charles started off as a taxi driver and later became the first sports anchor at CNN.

CNN reported that “Charles died peacefully, looking out at the spectacular land that drew him to Santa Fe, New Mexico, his wife, Cory, said.”

Charles began at CNN on the network’s first day, June 1, 1980, and covered nearly every sporting event over the years.

Nick Charles was diagnosed with terminal cancer, but always gave hope embracing life. Below you can see an exclusive interview with CNN where Charles speaks about his life, his work and the people he’s leaving behind.

Nicholas Charles Nickeas was an American sports sportscaster and journalist. He was one of CNN’s first on-air personalities and won three CableACE Awards for best sports program during his 17-year tenure as co-host of the network’s Sports Tonight. He was a graduate of Columbia College Chicago.

Charles was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother is of Sicilian heritage, and his father’s Spartan Greek. His wife, Cory is a senior director for CNN International’s Guest Planning Unit. Cory has been with CNN since 1990. Charles has 4 children and 3 grandchildren. His son Jason is an entrepreneur, and owns an audio-visual production company in Tempe, Arizona. His daughter, Katie, runs track and field for Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Charles was the first sports anchor for CNN in 1980. He co-hosted CNN Sports Tonight with Fred Hickman, and later hosted his own program, Page One with Nick Charles until leaving the network in 2001. He hosted the Goodwill Games for Turner Broadcasting in 1986 in Moscow, 1990 in Seattle, 1994 in St. Petersburg, Russia and covered boxing for the Goodwill Games in New York City in 1998.

Beginning in 2001, Charles hosted of Showtime’s ShoBox: The New Generation. As a boxing commentator, he has interviewed major boxing figures including Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. He also hosted boxing on Versus, a sports network. Nick won the Boxing Writer’s Association 2007 Broadcaster award. In 2008, he won the Sam Taub Award for excellence in boxing broadcasting journalism.

He was named “sexiest sportscaster” in America several years in a row, by U.S. Television Fan Association. Nick Charles and former heavyweight contender George Chuvalo shared the Bill Crawford Award for perseverance in overcoming adversity in 2010 from the Boxing Writer’s Association.

Charles has terminal metastatic bladder cancer. He has been recording video messages for his family and friends to show after his death.

(Video Source: CNN, with information from Wikipedia)