L IFESTYLE /C ULTURE
New 76ers Voice Details Her Jewish Background
S P ORTS
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
SINCE KATE SCOTT is a
notable “fi rst,” her identity is
a central part of her narrative.

Scott, the new television
voice of the Philadelphia 76ers
for NBC Sports Philadelphia,
is the fi rst woman to call an
NFL game on the radio, an
NHL game on television and
Olympic men’s basketball in
general, among several other
“fi rsts.”
Now, alongside Milwaukee
Bucks announcer
Lisa Byington, also hired this year,
Scott, 38, is about a week away
from becoming the “fi rst”
female voice of a major profes-
sional sports team in North
America. Th e Sixers open
their 2021-’22 season on Oct.

20 against the New Orleans
Pelicans. As a gay woman, too, Scott
is well aware that fans and
media will oft en see her as a
representative for her identity
groups. At the same time, there
is one Scott identity that gets
a little less attention in the
narrative about her career.

Much like her predecessor
with the Sixers, Marc Zumoff ,
Scott is Jewish.

Or, to put it more accurately,
Scott has a Jewish mom:
Maggie Cone. But as Scott
knows, that’s what counts.

Th ough the broadcaster is
no longer religious, she did say,
“I’m Jewish,” when asked.

“It’s a really important part
of who my mom is,” said Scott.

“I try to honor that.”
One way she honored it was
by revealing some fun Jewish
facts about herself.

“My sister and I went to
Sunday school”
Scott’s father is a Methodist
Christian, so when Scott and
her sister were young, they
were exposed to both religions.

Growing up in Clovis,
California, they went to Jewish
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Sunday school, but they also
attended church activities with
their paternal grandmother.

Cone and her husband wanted
their children to understand
both faiths so they could
choose their own, if they
wanted to, once they got older.

Th e sisters celebrated Jewish
holidays with their parents
and family friends and got
Chanukah gift s from their
maternal grandparents, who
lived in Connecticut, every
December. Th ey did, however, stop
going to Sunday school before
they were old enough to have
b’not mitzvah.

“It wasn’t an in-depth
Jewish upbringing. We didn’t
have Friday night dinner,”
Cone said. “But it was very
important to me. So I tried to
instill it in the kids.”
“I worked at a Jewish deli in
Berkeley” Aft er blowing out her knee
playing travel soccer, Scott
couldn’t earn a collegiate
scholarship in her favorite
sport. So later in high school,
aft er showing her speaking
and leadership skills as class
president, Scott was encour-
aged by a teacher to pursue
broadcasting. The new voice of the
Sixers started her journey at
the University of California,
Berkeley. While there, she also
worked at a Jewish deli, Saul’s,
to earn extra money.

Scott spent her weekends
making Reuben sandwiches
and gathering whitefish
orders for California Jews who
relocated from New York. On
breaks, she would eat chicken
liver sandwiches ... with pickles
on the side.

Whenever Scott’s parents
would visit, the family would
eat at Saul’s.

“Th at was another thing that
made my mom very happy,”
Scott said, laughing.

for the PAC 12 Networks and
NBC Sports Bay Area. A couple
of the hall’s board members
knew of her background and
liked her work, according to
the broadcaster.

Th ey also knew she had
achieved a couple “fi rsts.”
“Th at was a wonderful
ceremony,” Scott said of her
induction. “Every year we FaceTime with
my mom and light the candles”
Scott and her wife are not
religious, but they do celebrate
Chanukah with Cone. Every
year, they FaceTime Cone,
and they all light the candles
together from their respective
locations. She carries her menorah
with her wherever her career
takes her.

“Th at makes my mom very
“I am a member of the Jewish happy,” Scott said.

Sports Hall of Fame of
Cone is excited for her
Northern California”
In 2016, Scott was inducted daughter to go to Philadelphia,
into the Jewish Sports Hall of one of the biggest Jewish
Fame of Northern California. markets in the country.

Aft er Scott arrived in the
She did much of her earlier
broadcast work in the San city, she met Zumoff for lunch
Francisco Bay Area, including at a deli to discuss her new role.

Kate Scott, left, will become the
new TV voice of the Sixers during
the upcoming season.

Courtesyof The NBC Sports Group
Th en, naturally, she told her
mom about where they ate.

“It’s where she was meant to
be,” Cone said.

Scott, for her part, said that,
if she reached a point where she
wanted to consider a faith, she
could see herself reconnecting
with Judaism.

“It’s always seemed like
a very kind, welcoming and
inclusive religion to me,” she
said. “Th ose things have meant
a lot to me in my life and
career.” ●
jsaff ren@jewishexponent.com;
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