Thomas E. Mees (October 13, 1949 – August 14, 1996) was an American sportscaster best known for his role in hosting and in the play-by-play role of professional and collegiate
ice hockey and for being a prominent personality on
ESPN during that network's early years.[1][2]
After six years in Wilmington and one year at
WECA-TV in
Tallahassee, Florida, Mees was hired by ESPN as one of their first on-air personalities for the network's launch in 1979 on September 7.[2][3] In 2005, he was inducted into the
Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.[4]
ESPN
Mees was a lead anchor on SportsCenter from 1979 to 1985 when he took on hosting and occasional play-by-play duties for
NHL on ESPN. ESPN later lost the NHL contract to
SportsChannel America, and he returned full-time to SportsCenter. When the NHL returned to ESPN in
1992–93, he worked NHL games during the season with
Darren Pang,
Brian Engblom, and
John Davidson as his analysts,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] and he hosted SportsCenter in the off-season. Mees was an early advocate of NCAA Ice Hockey on ESPN, worked play-by-play for the
Frozen Four (NCAA Hockey's championship tournament), and contributed to the increased visibility of that tournament.[12]
By the 15th anniversary of ESPN, Mees (along with
Chris Berman and
Bob Ley) was one of three original SportsCenter anchors still with the network.[13]
Death
On August 14, 1996, Mees, who did not know how to swim, drowned in a neighbor's swimming pool in
Southington, Connecticut.[14][15][16] Police initially said that Mees had jumped into the pool to save his younger daughter but later said they did not know how he ended up in the water and classified his death as an
accident.[17][18][19][20][21]
He and Michelle, his wife of almost 10 years, had two daughters: Lauren who was 8 years old and Gabrielle who was 4 at the time of his death.[22][23]