This was posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2016 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Atlanta's own Elle Duncan - who joined "ESPN SportsCenter" earlier this year - is having a homecoming this weekend.
She will be reporting for "SportsCenter on the Road" covering the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl at the Georgia Dome December 17 featuring North Carolina Central against Grambling State. Live reports will air on ESPN between 9 a.m. and noon. The game is scheduled to start at noon on ABC, kicking off the bowl season.
She'll also get to tour the new Mercedes Benz stadium that is being built in the shadow of the soon-to-be-demolished Dome.
"It's kind of life coming full circle," said Duncan in an interview. She grew up going to many a Falcons game for pleasure and for work at the Dome.
Duncan has nothing but raves working at ESPN in Bristol, Conn. so far: "I'm super lucky and blessed. I want to make the most of this opportunity. It's fantastic. This place is pretty cool."
Once her coverage of the bowl is finished, she hopes to visit a couple of her favorite eateries: Zaxby's and Jack's Pizza and Wings in the Old Fourth Ward. She'll also visit friends, hopefully catch a Hawks game and see her mentor Ryan Cameron and attend the Mayor's Masked Ball.
So far, as a "SportsCenter" anchor, she said she has had to broaden her sports wings. Previously, in Atlanta and in New England, she only had to focus on a limited number of teams. Now she has to know a little bit of everything about every major sports team in several different sports. She loved following the Braves growing up and playing baseball, watching the Falcons and college football and covering the Atlanta Hawks. In New England, she picked up an appreciation for hockey.
At ESPN, she is also learning more about soccer.
"I've had an opportunity to work with fantastic people at every stage of my career," Duncan said. "A lot of those fantastic people are in one place. All these people are so good at what they do creating shows and content. I have so much more to learn and have a lot of growing up to do. This is one of those places you go to build your skills."
She greatly appreciates the writing ability of the people at ESPN. "I'm not a great writer," she said, "I try to pay attention to the great writers here. It's supposed to be about personality but writing helps your interviewing skills."
Duncan started her broadcast career at age 20 in 2003 doing celebrity news for the 2 Live Stews on 790/The Zone. A year later, she was working with Ryan Cameron on V-103. At that station, she also worked as mid-day host and as part of Frank Ski and Wanda Smith's morning show.
She then spent a year doing traffic for 11 Alive.
Over the years, Duncan worked as a Hawks sideline reporter, contributed to the Atlanta Falcons radio network pre- and postgame shows and did reporting for for SEC and ACC football games on Comcast Sports South.
She left for a sports broadcasting job in New England in late 2013 before going to ESPN in the spring of 2016.
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