Laura Rutledge is an American journalist and reporter. She currently works for ‘CNN International’ and ‘ESPN.’ Rutledge joined ESPN and began working on SEC Network in 2014. She has covered a wide range of college sports as sideline reporter including football, basketball, softball and baseball. In addition to traveling with SEC Nation last fall, Rutledge was the sideline reporter for ESPN’s Thursdays Night Football Game. Laura Rutledge also hosted more than 200 SEC Now shows and became an unofficial co-host on The Paul Finebaum Show, joining Finebaum in-studio several days a week.
Laura Rutledge is the host of ESPN’s year-round weekday NFL news and information show NFL Live and SEC Network’s SEC Nation. Since joining the company in 2014 as a reporter on SEC Network and ESPN, Rutledge has consistently expanded her portfolio. She was named host of NFL Live in June 2020 and also hosts SEC Nation – 2021 was her fifth year as host and sixth year with the show overall.
SEC Nation has been traveling the Southeastern Conference for three seasons. The show has brought national viewers the sights, sounds and tailgating taste of every SEC campus on game day, as well as flavor from the neutral site Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville, Fla. and an annual trip to the SEC Football Championship game in Atlanta.
Laura Rutledge Early Life:
Born and brought up in Florida, Laura graduated from the ‘University of Florida’ in broadcast journalism. She started hogging the limelight in 2012 when she won the ‘Miss Florida’ pageant. In the same year, she started her career in sports journalism. In 2013, she participated in the ‘Miss America’ pageant, but couldn’t win the competition. As for her journalism career, she first worked for ‘Fox Sports’ as a sideline reporter. After working for ‘Fox Sports’ for two years, she started working for ‘ESPN.’
She has hosted post-game shows on ‘Fox College Football’ and halftime shows of college football games telecasted on ‘Fox Sports Network.’ She also became the producer of a show called ‘SDLive’ which was telecasted on ‘Fox Sports San Diego.’ She is known as one of the most popular American female sports journalists owing to her stunning looks and terrific reporting skills. She met the professional baseball player Josh Rutledge in 2011, and got married to him in 2013.
She attended Celebration High School in Celebration, Florida. She married Josh Rutledge, a professional baseball player, in 2013. They reside in Birmingham, Alabama. On October 2, 2019, Rutledge gave birth to a daughter, Reese Katherine Rutledge. The young McKeeman loved fishing and wanted to be a marine biologist all through elementary school. However, she became passionate about broadcast television when her family moved to Atlanta in her teen years.
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Laura Rutledge Career:
Before joining NFL Live, Rutledge was a contributor on Get Up. She has also anchored SportsCenter and hosted red carpet coverage at The Home Depot College Football Awards, the ESPYs and the NFL Draft. Additionally, Rutledge has contributed to ESPN and SEC Network’s live-event programming for college football, basketball, gymnastics, baseball and softball. She was a mainstay in ESPN’s extensive championship coverage surrounding the College Football Playoff, NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships, and both the Women’s College World Series and College World Series.
Prior to joining ESPN, Rutledge was a sports anchor for CNN’s New Day and Early Start. She also worked on HLN’s Morning Express with Robin Meade, as well as Fox Sports.
Rutledge has a broadcasting journalism degree from the University of Florida, where she also won the 2011 Red Barber Award for Excellence in Broadcasting at UF. Rutledge is an Ambassador for the Miracle League, an organization that builds baseball fields for children with disabilities.
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Rutledge and her husband Josh, a retired MLB infielder and former Alabama baseball player, reside in Connecticut. They welcomed a daughter, Reese, in October 2019.
She won the title of Miss Florida on July 7, 2012, when she received her crown from outgoing titleholder Kristina Janolo. Her competition talent was ballet. Rutledge is a graduate of the University of Florida, having majored in broadcast journalism. She was also a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. She is currently working for ESPN and is featured in multiple shows, including the SEC Network’s college football pre-game show, “SEC Nation” and “NFL Live”.
Laura Rutledge Husband:
In 2011, Laura met professional baseball player Josh Rutledge through a common friend. Laura and Josh Rutledge started dating after meeting each other again in Birmingham. Laura got married to Josh Rutledge on December 7, 2013. Laura is active on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter where she has thousands of followers.
Laura Rutledge Salary:
Laura Rutledge’s salary is $450,000 per year and is worth around $500,000 and a million USD. In the meantime, her husband’s worth is roughly $55 million. Laura Rutledge makes the life of a working mum and dedicated wife look easy. She is among the best sports correspondents in the US.
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Laura Rutledge Biography
| Name | Laura Rutledge |
| Real Name | Laura McKeeman |
| Nickname | Laura |
| Profession | Television personality, Sports Journalist |
| Date of Birth | 2 October 1978 |
| Age | 33 Years (as on 2022) |
| Net Worth | $5 Million |
| Birth Place | St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. |
| Height | 5′ 10″ (1.78 m) |
| Weight | 67 Kgs |
| Mother | Deborah McKeeman |
| Daughter | Reese Katherine Rutledge |
| Education | Broadcasting Journalism Degree |
| College | University of Florida |
| School | Celebration High School |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Josh Rutledge (M. 2013) |
| Favourite Actor | Dwayne Johnson |
| Favourite News Reader | Ainsley Earhardt & Kat Timpf |
| Famous as | Miss America 2013 |
Laura Rutledge Facts:
- Laura Rutledge was born as Laura McKeeman on October 2, 1988, in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States of America. She spent her childhood in Florida and attended ‘Celebration High School’ in Celebration, Florida. As a kid, Laura was interested in trying different makeup products. She also loved dressing up and fantasized about becoming famous and appearing on television. Subsequently, she started prepping for beauty pageants when she was still a kid. She was also interested in dancing and hence attended ballet classes.
- Her love for sports came from her parents, who were ardent fans of college football. Her brothers too were sports enthusiasts. While Laura did not play a lot of sports during her growing up days, she loved watching sports on television. Because of her interest in sports, she had made up her mind to become a sports journalist by the time she graduated high school.
- For her college education Laura chose ‘University of Florida’ over ‘Florida State University’ as the former offered a much better communications program. She enrolled at the ‘University of Florida’ and pursued her graduation in media.
- During her first year at the university, she figured out that she could make some money by working at the on-campus radio station. She landed her first job as a radio jockey for the ‘WRUF’ radio station that operates from the university’s main campus. She loved her job from the very beginning.
- Laura took up a program in communications right after joining the university. But she later decided to study telecommunications as her childhood dream of appearing on television resurfaced. She studied at the university from 2007 to 2011 and worked for the on-campus radio station until her graduation.
- During her senior year at the ‘University of Florida,’ Laura failed to land an internship program despite being interviewed by several broadcasting companies. ‘ESPN’ and ‘Fox Sports’ were among the broadcasting companies that interviewed her.
- Not disheartened by the failure, she kept trying and eventually befriended a man from ‘Fox Sports’ who helped her land her first internship program at ‘Fox Sports Florida.’ However, she was not given the kind of work she was hoping for. Instead, she was assigned the job of copying DVDs of sports broadcasts.
- Thanks to an unexpected incident, she was given an opportunity to appear on screen for the first time. One of the on-air presenters had a last minute conflict with the broadcasting unit, hence Laura was asked to replace the presenter for a short period. Laura seized the opportunity and was even appreciated for her work.
- She was then asked to present the games played by professional baseball teams, such as ‘Tampa Bay Rays’ and ‘San Diego Padres.’ These games were broadcast by ‘Fox Broadcasting Company.’ It did not take long for Laura to become popular among ‘Fox Sports’ audience. Her popularity went a long way in cementing her position as a ‘Fox Sports’ reporter.
- In 2012, she decided to participate in the ‘Miss Florida’ pageant. On July 7, she was declared the winner of the pageant, which gave her an opportunity to represent the state of Florida in the ‘Miss America’ beauty pageant that was to be held in 2013. She participated in the ‘Miss America’ pageant, but could not win the competition. However, she was one of the top 16 contestants in the pageant.
- Following her victory in ‘Miss Florida’ pageant, she resumed her broadcasting career and covered ‘National Paintball Championship’ which was held at Lakeland, Florida in 2012. The championship was organized by the ‘National Collegiate Paintball Association’ and Laura worked as an on-field reporter for ‘Fox College Sports.’
- She also appeared as a television host while working for ‘Fox Sports San Diego.’ In 2013, she hosted a show called ‘Chargers Insider’ for the American football team, ‘San Diego Chargers.’ She also appeared as a host in a show called ‘SDLive.’ ‘SDLive’ was started by Laura on ‘Fox Sports San Diego.’ She currently serves as its producer, apart from hosting the show.
- By the end of 2013, she had become popular working for ‘Fox Broadcasting Company.’ In 2014, Laura was given an opportunity to host ‘Coors Light Postgame Show’ on ‘Fox College Football.’ She also hosted the halftime shows of college football games telecasted on ‘Fox Sports Network.’
- In the same year, she decided to work for ‘ESPN’ and was eventually hired by ‘SEC Network,’ which is owned by ‘ESPN Inc.’ Laura later said in an interview that she opted to work for ‘SEC Network’ as she wanted to report as many sporting events as she possibly could. She also said that she wanted to report college sports. Given the fact that ‘SEC Network’ wanted her to report college sports, she couldn’t deny the offer to work for the ‘ESPN’ network.
- She also works as a host for Paul Finebaum’s ‘SEC Network’ show ‘The Paul Finebaum Show.’ In the show, she talks to random callers and answers questions about sports. She predominantly works as a host and reporter for ‘CNN International’ and ‘ESPN.’ Laura Rutledge is known as one of the most beautiful and popular college sports journalists in the United States.
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