Antonio Giuseppe Paolo Reali (born July 4, 1978)
Early years
Reali was born in the New York City borough of
Staten Island, and is of
Italian-American descent.
Reali spent most of his childhood living in New Jersey, growing up in Marlboro Township. He graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey in 1996.
[Concha, Joe. "RealHoboken Celebrity Series: An Interview with ESPN’s Tony Reali", RealHoboken.com. Accessed October 23, 2007. "One of the aforementioned shows, Around the Horn is hosted by 28-year-old Tony Reali, a Marlboro, New Jersey native and graduate of Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft in 1996."] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Communications and History from Fordham University.
While there, he was a sportscaster for
WFUV from 1997 to 2000 as the voice of football and men's basketball. He also was a beat reporter covering the Yankees, Mets, Giants, and Jets. In May 2000, he wrote for
WPIX-TV of New York.
Broadcasting career
Reali joined ESPN in 2000 as a researcher and writer for
2 Minute Drill.
Pardon the Interruption
He joined
Pardon the Interruption in October 2001 as "Stat Boy", where his role was to correct and fact-check hosts
Tony Kornheiser and
Michael Wilbon at the end of every episode. Reali became so popular that he started appearing daily on Tony Kornheiser's radio show for a daily segment called "Preview the Interruption", in which he discussed what was going to happen on
PTI later on that afternoon. After Reali became the host of
Around the Horn and his popularity continued to rise, Kornheiser and Wilbon eventually started introducing him by his actual name instead of simply calling him "Stat Boy." On occasion, Kornheiser will add several ridiculous middle names when introducing him to poke fun at his long name (such as Anthony Joseph Lisa Lipps Reali). In addition to conducting his usual fact-checks, Reali also judged Kornheiser and Wilbon when they played the games "Oddsmakers" and "Report Card" on the show and introduced the topics for segments such as "Over/Under" and "What's the Word." On September 5, 2014, Reali did his last show of
Pardon the Interruption as part of moving to New York City to be a social media correspondent on
Good Morning America,
a job he held for only a couple of months.
Around the Horn
In February 2004, Reali replaced
Max Kellerman as the host of ESPN's
Around the Horn, the show that precedes
PTI in the ESPN weekday schedule (he was guest host on
Around the Horn six times, and was a panelist six other times before becoming host). As host of
Around The Horn, Reali awards points at his own discretion based upon the quality of the panelists' comments. Reali is known for his in-depth knowledge of sports statistics and corrections of panelists on
Around the Horn. He will deduct points or mute guests when nonsensical comments are provided, awarding points when a panelist makes a convincing argument, bold prediction, or amusing
pop culture reference.
During a "face time" donated to him by the winner of an episode of the show in March 2019, Reali commented on the decision of Secretary of Education
Betsy DeVos to eliminate federal funding for the
Special Olympics, arguing for the social and moral importance of maintaining support for the program.
The following day the
White House announced that it would override the proposed cuts by DeVos to the program.
Good Morning America
Reali began at ABC's
Good Morning America in 2014 as its social media correspondent. From 2015 to 2018, he was the weekend sports correspondent and also worked the pop culture desk.
Voice roles
Reali appeared as a special guest star on
and provided the voice for "The Dark One" in
Rocked. The episode aired on September 22, 2012.
Personal life
In the early hours of October 1, 2007, Reali's Washington, D.C. apartment was destroyed by a fire,
a fact revealed by
Tony Kornheiser on
Pardon the Interruption on October 1 and acknowledged by Reali himself on
Around the Horn the following day.
The fire occurred a few days after he had proposed to Samiya Edwards, an Africa policy consultant.
Reali has been open about his struggles with anxiety, posting on social media and providing details through interviews and podcasts.[ It’s our faith that makes us who we are , February 26, 2010; accessed October 18, 2014.]
On Father's Day 2018, Reali announced that he and his wife were expecting twin sons. Although one of the boys died unexpectedly before childbirth, the other boy was born healthy. Reali also has two daughters.
External links
