Pamela Donielle "Pam" Oliver (born March 10, 1961) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sportscaster

Sportscaster

In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...

 known for her work on the sidelines for various NBA and NFL games.

Early life

Oliver was born in Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

. With her father being in the U.S. Air Force, Oliver and her family moved several times during her childhood, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, Washington, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. Instead of watching children's shows, Oliver preferred watching sports.

Education

As a teenager, Oliver lived in Niceville, Florida

Niceville, Florida

Niceville is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States, located close to Eglin Air Force Base. It originally began with the name Valparaiso, then to separate itself from the neighboring town took the unofficial name of Boggy. Upon incorporation as an official city, the name was changed to...

, where she attended Niceville High School

Niceville High School

Niceville Senior High School is a public high school in the city of Niceville, Florida. The school is SACS-accredited and considered to be the top high school within its high performing district. In 1996 NHS was selected as one of 226 secondary schools to be designated as a Blue Ribbon School of...

. In high school, Oliver excelled in tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, and track and field. After graduating, Oliver enrolled at Florida A&M University

Florida A&M University

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, commonly known as Florida A&M or FAMU, is a historically black university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States, the state capital, and is one of eleven member institutions of the State University System of Florida...

, where she continued her track endeavors, becoming a college All-American in both the 400-meter and the mile relay. Oliver earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism

Broadcast journalism

Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. Broadcast methods include radio , television , and, especially recently, the Internet generally...

 and graduated in 1984.

Professional career

Oliver began her broadcasting career at WALB

WALB

WALB is the NBC- and ABC-affiliated television station for Southwestern Georgia licensed to Albany. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 from a transmitter in Doerun along the Colquitt and Worth County line...

 in Albany, Georgia

Albany, Georgia

Albany is a city in and the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. It is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area and the southwest part of the state. The population was 77,434 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the...

 in 1985 as a news reporter. The next year, Oliver moved to WAAY-TV

WAAY-TV

WAAY-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Tennessee Valley area of North Alabama that is licensed to Huntsville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter at its Monte Sano Boulevard studios on top of Monte Sano Mountain. Calkins Media owns...

 in Huntsville, Alabama

Huntsville, Alabama

Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....

. After that stop, Oliver moved to WIVB-TV

WIVB-TV

WIVB-TV, virtual channel 4, is the CBS-affiliated television station for Western New York that is licensed to Buffalo. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter on Center Street in Colden. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to CW...

 in Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

 in 1988. Two years later in 1990, Oliver moved to WTVT

WTVT

WTVT, channel 13, is a television station in Tampa, Florida. It is an owned and operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the News Corporation...

 in Tampa, Florida

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

, where she began her career as a sports anchor in 1991. Oliver moved to KHOU-TV

KHOU-TV

KHOU is the CBS affiliate television station in Houston, Texas. Serving Greater Houston, it is owned by the Belo Corporation and broadcasts on digital and PSIP channel 11...

 in Houston, where she continued to be a sports anchor. In 1993, Oliver joined the sports television network ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

. In 1995, Oliver joined Fox Sports

Fox Sports (USA)

Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...

, where she worked as a sideline reporter at NFL games. In 2005, Oliver joined TNT

Turner Network Television

Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...

 as a sideline reporter for their NBA Playoffs coverage. Pam Oliver also has her own dressing room at the new Cowboys Stadium with her name on a star on the door.

External links