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ESPN broadcaster Holly Rowe is among the faces seen at the WNBA marquee, women’s college basketball and college football games on the network.
The longtime ESPN employee shed some light on her personal life during an appearance at the Little Rock Touchdown Club in Arkansas. She recalled dating a bodybuilder who was Mr. Switzerland champion and revealed why the relationship didn’t work out.
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ABC sideline reporter Holly Rowe prior to the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on October 5, 2024. (Nelson Chenault/Imagn Images)
“I had a really hot boyfriend and he was Mr. Switzerland, bodybuilder,” she said. “We dated for four years. And when I say smoking hot… And the reason we broke up was we were at the ESPYs and Pat Summitt had just received this award, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, because she had just been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. And I’m in the audience, and I’m just crying in the audience, and he asked me, ‘what’s wrong with a coach?’
“And then we broke up,” Rowe continued. “So you just have to understand that I gave up Mr. Switzerland because of Pat Summitt. This is a true story.”
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New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu is interviewed by ESPN reporter Holly Rowe after winning the three-point contest during the WNBA All Star Skills Challenge at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 18, 2025. (Trevor Ruszkowski/Imagn Images)
Rowe’s story drew laughs from the crowd.
She did not name the bodybuilder.
She has been with ESPN since 1995 and over the past 30 years has carved out a role as the lead sideline reporter for the network’s coverage of college football and women’s college basketball games.
Holly Rowe during the CFP National Championship Media Day at the Georgia World Congress Center on January 18, 2025. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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She has also been part of the Utah Jazz coverage as an analyst. She was the first woman to serve in the role for Jazz.
