Legendary reporter Jackie MacMullan has announced she will be retiring from ESPN at the end of August.
MacMullan has been a pioneer for women in sports media and established herself as one of the most accomplished and most respected NBA reporters during a remarkable 40-year career.
“I feel fortunate to have collaborated with so many incredibly talented people during my 10-plus years at ESPN,” MacMullan said in a statement. “Sometimes you just know when you’re ready to dial it back, and this is the right time for me. I’m grateful for the memories, but especially for the friends I’ve made along the way. Thank you to my ESPN colleagues for all of your support.”
MacMullan began her career as an intern at the Boston Globe in 1982 and worked there for more than 20 years. She became the paper's first female sports columnist and was also named associate editor in 2002.
In 2010, MacMullan moved to ESPN, where she wrote for ESPN.com while also appearing on shows like SportsCenter, Around the Horn, Outside the Lines and The Jump.
Also in 2010, MacMullan became the first woman to receive the prestigious Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
MacMullan has written books with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Geno Auriemma and Shaquille O'Neal. In 2019, she became the first woman to receive the PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing.
“Jackie is a trailblazer not because she was one of the first women covering sports or the NBA. Rather, Jackie is a trailblazer because people talked about her without mentioning sex or gender," said ESPN senior deputy editor Cristina Daglas. "It was about the work, an incredible catalogue of work, that has appeared on every ESPN platform. Simply put, Jackie is one of the greatest journalists ESPN has ever seen. And she did it all while providing mentorship to both editors and writers, ensuring whether she meant to or not, that pieces of her will remain here long after she exits.”
MacMullan's final appearance for ESPN will be on the Aug. 31 episode of Around the Horn. According to the Globe's Chad Finn, MacMullan will continue to do podcasts for The Ringer, something she began in 2020.