ESPN’s Rich Eisen Gives Emotional Tribute to the Late Stuart Scott in His Return to SportsCenter: ‘He Should Be in That Chair’

In his return to ESPN after more than two decades away, Rich Eisen paid tribute to his old SportsCenter partner Stuart Scott.

In May, it was reported that The Rich Eisen Show and its titular host would be coming back to the network to bolster ESPN’s upcoming direct-to-consumer service. As part of the arrangement, Eisen would also have a presence on other ESPN programs — including SportsCenter.

Monday night’s SportsCenter was the first hosted by Eisen in 22 years. Fully embracing the nostalgia of Eisen’s return, the show began with opening graphics and music reminiscent of the 1990s and 2000s.

When longtime SportsCenter viewers think of Eisen’s first stint on SportsCenter, many will inevitable think of Scott, as well. The duo was among the most beloved in the history of the program.

In 2015, Scott died after a battle with cancer.

With that in mind, Eisen ended the show with a tribute to his late friend and broadcasting partner:

It has been a blast being here tonight; but listen, we all know there should be someone else right here in this chair next to me — right there — as he was for my seven years in the role he referred to as my “TV wife,” and that’s my dear, late friend Stuart Scott, who is indeed looking over my shoulder tonight.

I frequently think of Stuart a lot and what he might think of the sports headlines of the day, like say, Bill Belichick being the head football coach at his beloved school. We used to host SportsCenters after LeBron’s high school games, so what would Stewart think of James still playing at age 40 with 40,000 points? And with all these new crossing of sports TV streams, like say, ESPN buying NFL Network and partnering up with my daily show.

What would it look like if Stuart sat in with, say, Ernie, Shaq, Kenny, and Charles when Inside the NBA comes here to ESPN this fall? I could go on and on because I miss Stuart so very much. He should be in that chair, with me, with us, tonight.

Watch above via ESPN