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ESPN broadcaster Holly Rowe is among the faces seen during marquee WNBA, women’s college basketball and college football games on the network.
The longtime ESPN employee shed some light on her personal life during an appearance at the Little Rock Touchdown Club in Arkansas. She recalled dating a bodybuilder who was a Mr. Swiss champion and revealed why the relationship didn’t work out.
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ABC reporter Holly Rowe before the game against the Tennessee Volunteers and Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on October 5, 2024. (Nelson Chenault/Imagn Images)
“I had a really hot boyfriend, and he was Mr. Swiss, a bodybuilder,” she said. “We dated for four years. And when I say super hot…And the reason we broke up was because we were at the ESPYs and Pat Summitt had just received this award, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, because she had just been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. And I’m in the audience, and I was bawling in the audience, and he asked me, ‘What’s wrong with you? She’s just a coach.’
“And so we broke up,” Rowe continued. “So I just need you to understand that I gave up Mr. Switzerland because of Pat Summitt. It’s a true story.”
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New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu is interviewed by ESPN reporter Holly Rowe after winning the three-point contest during the 2025 WNBA All Star Skills Challenge at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 18, 2025. (Trevor Ruszkowski/Imagn Images)
Rowe’s story drew laughter from the crowd.
She did not name who the bodybuilder she was dating was.
She has worked for ESPN since 1995, and over the past 30 years has built a role as lead reporter for the network’s coverage of college football and women’s college basketball games.
Holly Rowe during the 2025 CFP National Championship media day at the Georgia World Congress Center, Building A on January 18, 2025. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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She also participated in coverage of the Utah Jazz as an analyst. She was the first woman to hold this position for the Jazz.
