American sportscaster Jason Benetti often pronounced as a limp and a lazy eye, accomplished a lot despite suffering cerebral palsy. The Illinois native is a play-by-play announcer for college basketball in ESPN and works for the professional baseball team, Chicago White Sox home.
He had broadcasted for several networks like Fox Sports 1, Time Warner Cable Sports, IMG College, and DePaul University.
Jason Benetti Family, Eye, Wife
When Jason was born ten weeks premature, his parents Rob Benetti and Sue Benetti feared of losing their bundle of joy. Though the ESPN announcer arrived safely, he suffered a neurological disorder, cerebral palsy. He then underwent different surgeries like eye surgery, hamstring surgery, and heel cord surgery.
At the beginning of his second grade, he was in his wheelchair and received support from his family and childhood friends. But when he enrolled in high school, things turned out different for him. In his April 2016 interview with USA Today, Jason described his high school moment:
When you’re the guy that’s walking around with a limp, it’s not easy to be cool and people don’t necessarily gravitate toward you like they would, say, the quarterback of the football team. It wasn’t necessarily the coolest thing ever to be around a guy who did radio or band or walked with a limp — I happened to do all three.
The Illinois native dreamt of being a sportscaster since his elementary school. When Jason studied at Churchill Elementary, he wrote a letter for a class assignment citing that he wanted to be the White Sox sportscaster. Fast forward, the Syracuse University graduate fulfilled his dream at the age of 32, replacing Ken “Hawk” Harrelson as the Sox broadcaster.
He enjoys working with fellow White Sox TV partner Steve Stone. Though they are not romantically linked, over the course, the TV partners have become the best friends and live in two separate apartments at the same River North building.
As of November 2018, Jason is reportedly unmarried, and there is no any news about his wife. However, the Chicago White Sox announcer once tweeted in August 2016 mentioning his girlfriend as Alberta, and she lives in Vancouver.
ESPN’s Jason Benetti’s Salary And Net Worth
Jason, age 35, garners the prominent part of his net worth from his career as an American sportscaster. As per Paysa.com, ESPN announcer earns an average salary of $103,500 per year and their annual income range from $95,969 to $110,421. Since 2011, Jason is working as an ESPN play-by-play announcer for college basketball.
In addition to his contribution at ESPN, the sportscaster is a television play-by-play announcer for the professional baseball team, Chicago White Sox home games since 2016. According to work.chron.com, baseball announcer earns an average salary of $55,000 per year and range from $30,144 to $181,825 annually.
He also announced play-by-play college football and college basketball for Westwood One. As an adjunct professor, Jason taught sports broadcasting at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication.
Short Bio
Jason Benetti was born in Illinois on 9 September 1983. The play-by-play announcer was at the age of 27 when he joined the ESPN network. In 2005, Jason graduated with a bachelor’s degrees in broadcast journalism, psychology, and economics from Syracuse University.
He studied at Wake Forest School of Law and obtained his J.D. degree in 2011. As per wiki, his cerebral pals prevented the American sportscaster from playing tuba during the marching band season.