Steve Levy desperately did not want to work in Bristol back in 1993. He was 28 and loved his city life in New York.
He was a weekend anchor on CBS’ Channel 2 and pleaded for a full-time position, but CBS had Rock Rote on the air with the hyped-up Bernie Smilovitz coming in as a big hire from Detroit.
“I begged them,” Levy said the other day, adding he probably would have made about 10 percent of what Smilovitz was set to make.
Reluctantly, Levy accepted the job at ESPN. Now, a quarter century later, Levy never wants to leave.
“I would sign a lifetime contract,” Levy said.
While ESPN has yet to offer that, the network will celebrate Levy on Thursday with a special “SportsCenter” that will be centered on him. He is the type of broadcaster who is often overlooked because he doesn’t have a look-at-me style.
He has never had the fame of Chris Berman or the forum of a Scott Van Pelt, but Levy is an enjoyable host who seldom, if ever, makes it about himself. Levy is a sportscaster’s sportscaster.
In a business filled with egos, Dan Patrick, one of the best “SportsCenter” anchors of all time, described Levy as being void of one — a great teammate who is quick with a laugh.
“I can’t say enough good things about him,” Patrick said.
Levy is well-compensated and has been to every Stanley Cup Final since he began at ESPN. He is more times than not the lead “SportsCenter” host after big events. He also added top college football duties, but he does have a penchant for just missing some big jobs.
When Berman left, sources said, Levy was a finalist to host “NFL Countdown” before Sam Ponder landed the gig. Before that, when Sean McDonough received the “Monday Night Football” job, Levy was said to be right there as the next choice. This past spring, as ESPN promoted Joe Tessitore for MNF, Levy was in the hunt.
“If those reports are accurate, I’m happy to be in the conversation,” Levy said. “One of these days, I would like to finish first.”
Though he is known for his smoothness, his most memorable moment is probably one of the all-time sportscasting misspeaks. In 1995, he tripped up on Patriots’ Maurice Hurst’s bulging disc injury, missing the landing on disc.
“I spelled it correctly in the prompter, but I was off by one letter,” Levy said.
Levy laughed during the clip as he apologized. Co-anchor Keith Olbermann didn’t help, adding an explanation point by asking, “Do we have video of that?” Levy thought he might be fired, but instead received a phone call of encouragement from Norby Williamson, the executive in charge of “SportsCenter” then.
On Thursday night, Olbermann will co-host with Levy.
Levy grew up in Merrick, attending Bellmore Kennedy, whose other famous alums include Adam Schefter and Amy Fisher. He then went to SUNY Oswego and, soon after graduating, was quickly at WFAN.
He was at The FAN near the ground floor, which allowed him some amazing opportunities.
“I was Ed Coleman before Ed Coleman,” said Levy, who was FAN’s first traveling Mets beat reporter, while Suzyn Waldman was on the Yankees.
Before there was the Red Zone Channel on TV, a top FAN producer, Len Weiner, came up with the NFL in Action, hosted by Levy. It is now pretty standard for radio shows, but when Levy went to stadium after stadium for score updates, it felt revolutionary.
Levy, along with Richard Neer, pulled one of the great April Fools’ jokes. They woke up on April 1 — Levy thinks it was 1989 — and decided to report that the Jets had traded for their nemesis Dan Marino. With no internet, they were taking calls on the subject. It was very well done, though today, with social media and the way news travels so fast, it might have ended poorly.
“People would not find it amusing,” Levy said.
Over the last few years, ESPN has lost a lot of its soul with some longtime executives retiring, Berman being diminished and people who bleed for the company being laid off, but Levy remains a part of it. And, all these years later, there is no place he would rather be.
“It means everything to me,” Levy said of his quarter century in Bristol. “I can’t imagine working anywhere else.”
Clicker Classifieds: NBA writer free agency: We have written about the 24-year-old Shams Charania, who is leaving Yahoo and is likely headed to The Athletic and, as The Big Lead noted, Stadium, a new online video entity. There are other NBA writing free agents: Frank Isola, formerly of the Daily News, hosts a show on SiriusXM and is a regular on “Around The Horn” on ESPN. ESPN’s Chris Haynes, according to The Sporting News, is another. Yahoo could replace Charania, while NBC Sports regionals have been searching for a national insider for its different networks. Locally, SNY is looking for an NBA insider, as it tries to beef up its digital operation. … SNY also still plans on continuing “Daily News Live,” an SNY spokesperson said, despite only having nine sports department staffers, including no one with expertise on the Yankees, after Mike Mazzeo — also a dual threat with his NBA experience at ESPN — and columnist John Harper being among the cuts. … Fox Sports announced some local flavor for its Jr. NBA Championship coverage, as Nets analyst Sarah Kustok will be an analyst, while the son of Kustok’s YES partner Ian Eagle, Noah, will be a sideline reporter on the event. Noah is a senior at Syracuse.
