Sharlene Wells left her reign as Miss America off her resume when she applied for a sports reporter job at ESPN almost 40 years ago.
The Utahn didn’t want to be defined by her pageant celebrity when venturing to become one of the network’s first female sports reporters.
She also understood that some at ESPN might have preconceived notions before even meeting her.
Instead, Wells was simply hoping for the opportunity to earn her stripes — and the respect of colleagues and viewers — as a driven, versatile, get-the-story-right sports reporter.
She got the job. She earned their respect.
Decades have now passed since Wells wore the crown. And while her year as Miss America will never be a mere footnote, it’s perhaps become a secondary identifier in her biography.
When the Paraguayan-born Utahn became Miss America in the mid-1980s, the celebrated pageant had been in existence for almost six decades.
Conversely, Wells was walking, pioneer-like, into relatively uncharted paths when she took the ESPN job in 1987.
Women covering sports were still a rarity. Only a handful of women — including Phyllis George, Jayne Kennedy and Lesley Visser — had shattered sports national television’s glass ceiling.
Wells, in fact, was just the third female sportscaster at ESPN. “I remember showing Robin Roberts around ESPN after she started because I was the senior female at the time,” she marveled. “I was maybe 25 years old.”
But during her career, Wells blended hard work and savvy with a natural curiosity for all things athletics — covering some of the globe’s most widely viewed events including soccer’s World Cup, the French Open, Big Ten football, ESPN’s “College GameDay” and multiple Kentucky Derby races.
Today women are pretty much fully integrated into TV sports journalism. Erin Andrews, fellow Utahn Holly Rowe, Doris Burke and Hannah Storm are household names among American sports fans.
Wells, meanwhile, retired from sports broadcasting several years ago. The published author and musician now works as a senior vice president at Mountain America Credit Union.
But she still finds time to take in games as a fan. The proud BYU grad and early-morning F1 racing viewer recently married David Dyches — a hardcore University of Utah football fan.
“I wouldn’t say I’m an intense sports fan, except when the Olympics and World Cup rolls around,” she said. “At that point, I’m watching every minute.”
But Wells admits to a jolt of industry pride whenever she watches Rowe or Andrews or dozens of other female journalists breaking down defensive football schemes, debating NBA draft picks or asking a grumpy college coach a tough question on live television.
And she’s also grateful that Utah’s KSL gave her a shot of her own in front of the camera.
A ‘fútbol’ fan learns ‘football’
Wells’ father, Robert E. Wells, was a bank executive who later became a Latter-day Saint General Authority. Professional and ecclesiastical assignments took him and his family to several Latin American countries.
Wells remembers being a sports-loving teenager living in Buenos Aires when Argentina hosted the 1978 World Cup. When the home squad — the blue-and-white-clad “La Albiceleste” — claimed the tournament, the Argentines and young Sharlene went wild with joy.
“Imagine following your team and they win the biggest prize in the world,” she said. “It was intense. It was exciting. That was my first experience following a team and having that experience.
“That pulled me in.”
Wells was attending BYU when she was crowned Miss America in 1984. She returned to Provo once her year as titleholder ended. Then she got a call from KSL producers offering her a job hosting a half-hour entertainment program.
“I had zero interest in that,” Wells recalled. “So I thanked them, and then said: ‘But if you have anything in sports, let me know.’”
Wells was an ESPN fan — and particularly a fan of Gayle Gardner, who anchored ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and was the first female sports anchor to appear weekly on a major network.
“I was amazed with what Gayle did, and I thought, ‘That looks like a fun job.’”
About a week later, KSL called again. This time they asked Wells if she was interested in working as a sideline reporter for BYU football.
“Without thinking, I said ‘Yes’ — and then I hung up and started panicking,” she said, laughing.
Wells had grown up around “fútbol” — not football. “But I had trained myself as a teenager to make decisions based on courage, not on fear.”
So she dove into the gridiron world a bit blind, but anxious to learn.
She recorded “Monday Night Football” games, watching them again and again and again. And soon she was meeting regularly with BYU assistant football coaches Dick Felt and Lance Reynolds, who were generous tutors.
“Those guys were amazing,” she said. “They literally taught me the game while simultaneously teaching me about what to expect from BYU.”
Craig Bolerjack and others on the KSL Sports production team were equally welcoming.
Almost immediately during her BYU football assignment, Wells ventured beyond simply providing injury and weather updates. Much of her game prep focused on getting to know the Cougar players and their backstories. She searched for anything that could tilt the broadcast’s viewer engagement needle.
“I didn’t have female mentors — there were no other females.”
No problem. She found mentors in her male co-workers.
“It was all about me asking, ‘What help can I get from everybody?’”
Wells watched Bolerjack and the other KSL reporters closely. Soon she was mastering football terminology and building real-time broadcast confidence. She began asking the right questions at the right time.
And others outside of Utah began to notice.
After working with KSL, she was offered the job in 1987 at ESPN, aka “The Worldwide Leader in Sports”
“The network’s female viewership was going up, and they wanted to have more women on air,” she said.
While there were few women in the ESPN talent pool to help Wells transition to network television, she’s quick to note that ESPN vets such as Lee Corso and Chris Fowler generously answered all of her questions. They too became friends and trusted mentors.
“Right out of the chute, it was a great experience. I was learning things that were so different … but I learned fairly quickly.”
The execs at ESPN initially wanted her to anchor “SportsCenter.” Some whispered it was a quick pathway to fame. But the former Miss America had “already had a taste of that — and it was not a motivator.”
Instead, she gravitated to gathering reports that go outside the lines and tell the athlete’s story.
During her first two years at ESPN, she hosted Scholastic Sports America, focusing on a vast range of high school sports.
A lasting memory from that show was spending a couple of days with a teenage Monica Seles — and then following Seles to the 1990 French Open, where she became the youngest player to win the famed tournament.
“My oldest daughter is named Monica — and I just remember loving that name and loving (Seles) as a person.”
Later, Wells was assigned to cover college football — including ESPN’s venerable “College GameDay.”
But her favorite ESPN assignment? Hosting “World Cup Today” when the 1994 tournament came to the United States.
Wells was assigned to follow the U.S. Men’s National Team for six months leading up to the World Cup. She landed an interview with Pelé and was on the Rose Bowl pitch for the Brazil-Italy tournament final.
A self-described “utility player,” she also covered the Kentucky Derby and horse racing’s biggest events — along with a grab-bag of sporting events ranging from the World Lumberjack Championship to the America’s Cup international sailing competition.
“I got good at getting to know athletes: What made them tick? How did they react to failure? What were their driving moments? And I just loved that part of it.”
Interviewing Maradona: ‘Preparation meets opportunity’
Wells’ sports broadcast career taught her a mantra that still serves her well today: Create opportunities — Never wait for their arrival.
While covering the 1994 World Cup, she was assigned to cover the Argentina-Greece match at Foxboro Stadium.
Argentine legend Diego Maradona was in the twilight of his international career even while being investigated for drug use.
He was one of the tournament’s biggest stories — but Maradona was silent, refusing interviews.
Still, Wells prepared to interview one of soccer’s biggest-yet-enigmatic stars. In the evening prior to Argentina’s open-media practice, she spent hours formulating — and then memorizing — all the questions in Spanish that she hoped to pose to Maradona.
She knew an interview with the recalcitrant icon was unlikely — but Wells would be ready. Just in case.
“I showed up to practice the next day and there were 200 members of the press on the sidelines,” she recalled.
Standing four-deep, the scores of reporters watched Maradona in the distance kicking the ball around.
Wells noticed a spot on the opposite end of the field where no one was standing. So she called an audible — splitting away from the media scrum and hustling to the open spot on the field.
Sure enough, after about 20 minutes an errant soccer ball rolled her way — with Maradona in pursuit.
“Once he was within earshot, I started yelling: “Maradona, puedo hablar contigo?” Translation: “Maradona, can I speak with you?”
The soccer star turned, looked at the woman hollering at him in Spanish, and shrugged: “Como No?” Translation: “Sure.”
As Wells began interviewing Maradona, her peripheral vision caught a mass of reporters sprinting toward her side of the field. Despite the unfolding madness, she never broke eye contact with her celebrated interview subject — firing off her well-rehearsed questions.
“I went back and forth,” she said. “The reporters were piling around us and I’m still talking to Maradona, not letting him go.
“And then I asked what I knew would be the final question: ‘Tell us about the drug use — and is it true?’”
Maradona offered only a “pshaw” and then walked away.
It would be the Argentine’s only interview during the 1994 World Cup, remembered Wells. He was later booted from the tournament after failing a drug test.
That unexpected interview was a reminder of preparation’s rewards.
“Had I been fumbling around looking for questions, the interview would not have worked,” said Wells. “I had to look Maradona right in the eyes the whole time and keep going.”
Treated like a media professional, mostly
Wells established her sports journalism bona fides at a time when women were not yet widely found in the press boxes and sidelines. But she recalls being well received and accepted by both her KSL and ESPN colleagues — along with athletes and fans.
Google, “Football for Dummies” and social media did not yet exist — so she sometimes had to swallow a bit of pride and rely upon associates to augment her sports knowledge.
“Nothing from co-workers made me feel uncomfortable in the slightest,” she said.
“It was always very, very supportive. I could ask any kind of question. And I learned to not be shy about asking.”
There were those occasional differences between “old school” coaches and their younger counterparts.
“I interviewed a lot of coaches, and the ‘old school’ coaches would still call me ‘Babe’ or ‘Honey.’”
Wells wanted to roll her eyes, but she knew she had a job to do. So she moved forward with her interviews, continued with her questions and filed her stories.
“I knew I needed information from these guys,” she said. “And for the most part, I was treated well by the coaches.”
Missing those ‘connection’ moments with athletes
After spending almost two decades covering sports, the mother of four (and now a grandmother of three) decided to pursue other professional passions — including a partnership with the Defense Department producing commemorative documentaries and books recognizing war veterans of the Korean, Vietnam and Desert Storm conflicts.
Wells later worked inside the Pentagon as the communications director for the largest human resources department in the country — the DOD Office of Personnel — that’s responsible for over 6 million service members, their families and DOD civilians.
She has been with Mountain America Credit Union for the past several years.
But despite being away from the day-to-day grind of TV sports reporting — “I don’t miss the stress of live television” — Wells remains appreciative of the growing opportunities for women in all aspects of the sports business.
“I am so impressed with Holly Rowe’s talent — and with so many (women) out there,” said Wells. “I can’t keep count of how many are out there now, but they’re doing a great job.
“It’s fun to watch.”
Wells does miss those opportunities sports reporting once afforded her to connect with athletes such as Jackie Joyner-Kersee — and then learning their unique stories and sharing them with others.
“Just to live vicariously through these athletes who have been through so many ups and downs.”