Laura Rutledge would have been a ballet-dancing superstar in another universe. Instead, she’s a stellar sports media personality for ESPN and the SEC Network.
Rutledge talks about her first job as a radio personality as a student at the University of Florida and how she decided to move away from her dream of being a professional dancer on the latest episode of Basketball & Beyond with Mike Krushevski. talked.
.@Laura Rutledge One of the biggest stars in sports media today. Did you know that Laura almost chose a life of professional dance over the media?
She talked about that decision with Coach K on this week’s episode of Basketball & Beyond.@DukeMBBhttps://t.co/JmhTu4rkfb pic.twitter.com/xmxm64LU0T
— SiriusXM’s College Sports (@SXMCollege) December 23, 2022
Rutledge talked about how there are some differences with a professional dance company before finally choosing to attend college in Florida.
“At the last minute, I had a gut feeling that, ‘No, I need to accept an in-state academic scholarship and go to the University of Florida and figure it out from there,'” said the Tampa Bay native.
It was a watershed moment, and by pleasing sports fans, Rutledge put a lot of faith in the industry.
“In many ways it was a really tough moment because I was giving up on what had become a lifelong dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer,” said Rutledge. I’m not elite enough to want to climb to the top, so now I’m going to turn my attention to something else and be elite in that field.”
That’s what Rutledge has evolved through his prominence as a host of SEC Nation and NFL Live. She salutes her Rutledge for inspiring young women dreaming of breaking into the sports media.