Josh Elliott will make his NBC debut, and his “return to covering sports” this weekend during the Kentucky Derby, and he “could not be more excited to take the reins on his new job,” according to Debbie Emery of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Elliott left ABC’s “GMA” late last month, and said, “The offer to stay at ABC was terrific, but in the end for me personally, I grew up a sports fan, it is in my DNA.” Elliott worked at both ESPN and SI before joining “GMA,” and said of leaving morning news for a return to sports, “My childhood memories are in sports. I learned to do math statistically on the back of the sports page. I became a writer because I read sports writers like Jim Murray. … I might be taking the path less traveled, but it is one I have enjoyed every step of the way.” Elliott said there was “no active role for NBC News” in the deal with NBC Sports. Elliott: “The ability to join the team that I am now with both in front and behind the camera is plenty to get me out of bed. … I had a great opportunity. I got to tell so many wonderful stories at ABC News but I just look ahead now to all the stories still left to tell. That was at the heart of the choice” (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 4/28). SI.com’s Richard Deitsch reported Elliott during NBC’s Derby coverage will “front a piece on jockey Rosie Napravnik, who is riding a horse … that is partially trained by her husband.” He also “went to Boston to catch up with the connections to Wicked Strong.” One percent of the winnings the horse claims will “go to the One Fund, which was set up to support victims” of the Boston Marathon bombings (SI.com, 4/28).
