Veteran CNN anchor Nick Charles has died. The longtime sportscaster lost his battle with bladder cancer on Saturday at the age of 64.
“As a journalist and sports personality, Nick Charles helped put CNN on the map in its early days,” CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton said in a statement. “He brought intelligence, style and heart to his work — qualities that translated to our company and inspired those of us who were fortunate to work alongside him. His passing is a loss to CNN, to the sports world and to the fans and friends everywhere who were with him to the end of his extraordinary life. Like them, our thoughts today are of Nick and with his family.”
Charles was one of CNN’s first on-air personalities, relays The Hollywood Reporter, joining the now-famous news channel in 1980 as the host of CNN Sports Tonight with Fred Hickman. He also covered The Goodwill Games throughout the late ‘80s and ‘90s, as well as sporting events such as the Super Bowl, the Olympics and the Kentucky Derby.
Later on, Charles hosted his own program, Page One, and joined Showtime in 2001 as a commentator and blow-by-blow analyst for the cable station’s boxing coverage. There, he interviewed such elite champions as Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, and covered memorable fights such as Tyson biting Evander Holyfield’s ear and Roberto Duran telling Sugar Ray Leonard, “No mas.”
During his 40-year career, Charles amassed the Boxing Writer’s Association’s broadcaster award, as well as the Sam Taub trophy.
In 2009, Charles took a leave of absence from Showtime due to his battle with cancer, only returning to TV one time last March on HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
Just last Sunday, CNN’s Sanjay Gupta aired a segment about Charles’ illness. Charles had been taping video messages for his five-year-old daughter, Giovanna (similar to what Oprah Winfrey Show favourite Erin Kramp did for her young child during her own cancer fight).
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