US Lacrosse Magazine welcomed ESPN's Anish Shroff as a columnist for the 2020 college season. He's back for 2021. A 2004 Syracuse graduate, Shroff is a studio host, anchor and play-by-play commentator for college sports, including lacrosse.

He grew the game.

It started with a conversation in a hallway. That’s how all of it started. Lacrosse. This column. Calling games. It all happened thanks to a conversation with a bald man in a hallway.

Years ago, I took a quick business trip from Bristol, Conn., to Charlotte, N.C., to help with coverage of college football’s National Signing Day. Before I left the building, coordinating producer John Vassallo introduced himself, and we briefly chatted.

I had been hired a few years earlier as a studio anchor, but he wanted to know if I had called games before.

“Sure,” I told him. “Football. Baseball. Basketball … oh and even some lacrosse.”

He perked up. “You’ve done some lacrosse, huh?”

“Yeah, if someone calls out sick, let me know,” I joked.

Funny how things worked out.

‘JV’ offered me a chance. It was the first of many. One lacrosse game led to a few more the following year. That led to some football. Football led to basketball. Eventually, JV helped convince me to move to Charlotte and pursue a path as a play-by-play announcer. That led to more lacrosse … and more football … and more basketball … and eventually baseball. It changed the course of my career for the better. It gave me a voice in the sport of lacrosse that I could have never imagined.

None of it happens without JV.

For our lacrosse faction — John Vassallo was our great and powerful Oz. He even resisted hair follicles to complete the look. After two decades, January 8 was his last day at ESPN. We’ll miss him, and so will the sport of lacrosse.

“When JV took over lacrosse in the mid 1990s, the extent of the coverage was three games — two semifinals and a final,” says Quint Kessenich. “Now with ESPNU, the ACC Network and ESPN+, there are hundreds of games available.

“It didn’t take him long to see that lacrosse has enormous potential. His efforts to put the sport in the spotlight deserve the highest praise. And having started as an outsider, he quickly became an industry leading voice, advocate and fan.”

JV made Championship Weekend feel bigger with SkyCam and cameras in the goal. He helped push the sport into its contemporary frontier.

Three-man booths. Rules analysts. Mic’d up officials. Locker room access. Pre- and post-game coverage. Wrap-around studio coverage for the postseason. More men’s and women’s games on television. Shooting the game tighter to capture the true speed of the game. Humanizing players and telling their stories.

That came from JV. He fought for opportunities to get lacrosse on TV. He fought for us.

Lacrosse occupies a tiny cove in the vast ESPN ecosystem. We’re aware of it. We know we are a drop in the ocean, and that’s OK. But JV made us feel like we were the ocean. 

He challenged us to take risks and push established boundaries. He championed our creativity and gave us liberty and license to make games and the sport “feel big.”

He’ll always be a friend, mentor, boss, ally and advocate. He took a chance on me. He inspired me. He allowed me to grow, and his door was always open.

Broadcasting lacrosse is different from our coverage of other sports. We are often actively “selling” the sport, or as the adage goes, “growing the game.”

JV grew the game. A lot. More importantly, he helped grow so many of us.

Thank you, JV.

INDUSTRY THOUGHTS ON JV

Quint Kessenich
ESPN Analyst

“I’ve worked with and for John Vassallo for the past two decades while at ESPN. In title, John was my boss. In reality, he became a father figure, a coach, a brother, and most importantly, over time, he’s become a trusted friend.

Bigger than the growth he fertilized and cultivated were the relationships he built. JV is a wonderful person who had a positive impact on everybody he came in contact with — he became a trusted voice amongst administrators, coaches and television executives.

His ability to organize, inspire, motivate and effectively communicate with people defines his tenure at ESPN. As an executive producer, he built teams and helped to navigate their growth.

On a personal level, JV gave me a shot to broadcast football, soccer, basketball, wrestling and hockey. His confidence in my abilities and work ethic has become the backbone of my career. To be able to share some of the championship moments in lacrosse, hockey and wrestling with JV have been the most satisfying elements of my career. And to break it down as a team afterward over a splendid meal, and laugh and talk, those are conversations I will always cherish.

He is a relationship-based leader. Whether it be an ESPN employee, a university president, athletic director, NCAA representative, college coach or athlete, John has repeatedly shown the ability to make a personal connection and to bring people together to achieve the goal of the group.

John is honest and genuine, traits that endured him to some of the more popular on-camera employees but also to those behind the scenes. He has shown the ability to manage different personalities and support their unique needs. He is a great coach.”

Paul Carcaterra
ESPN Analyst

 “JV never played the sport of lacrosse, but his impact goes well behind a signature move, an OT goal, or a championship win. He made us feel like our games on ESPN felt big and gave us the tools to be successful. You love to go to work when your leader believes in you. JV has a soul and passion that can’t be denied.

Many people who love lacrosse can go through a season and not realize the behind-the-scenes work that goes into covering over 50 games in a season. JV was the glue to all of those events and will be missed. On behalf of our team at ESPN and all lacrosse fans, thank you JV for giving the sport the exposure it deserves for over two decades. You may be moving on from a professional standpoint, but you will always be one of us.”

John Kettering
ESPN lead lacrosse producer

“It’s not hyperbole to say that JV has been a pioneer in the evolution of the sport of lacrosse in almost every way.  For the past two decades, he has overseen the growth of the game through the lens of the television camera and beyond. He led the way when the sport began to get multiple times the exposure with the advent of ESPNU. He was there when Championship Weekend moved into NFL stadiums and oversaw technologies like SkyCam and goal cams that have been a staple of high level lacrosse productions that will remain throughout time. 

Not only has John been the main cog in the technical and growth developments for lacrosse through the years, he has also cultivated real relationships with people. He has a love not only for the game, but also a love for the connections with people that will resound beyond his time at ESPN … meaningful relationships with the NCAA, with coaches, officials and those who have worked with and for him. And I think that is what means the most to him. JV has not only been a true ambassador, innovator and manager of the game of lacrosse, he’s been a true friend to all involved with this great sport.”

Ryan Boyle
Premier Lacrosse League Analyst 

“The sport of lacrosse owes an incredible amount of gratitude to JV, as he championed the sport within ESPN for the greater part of two decades. While his impact is immediately and obviously seen raising awareness at the collegiate level, his true influence was through providing access and role models for thousands of younger players. Gone were the days having to tape the few televised games on old-school VHS tapes. Under John’s watch, the youth, along with fans across every demographic, could watch the next budding stars represent themselves, their unique styles and respective programs as they competed on a national stage.

He helped create a level of recognition such that when the top echelon reached the professional ranks, you could continue to root on your favorite players as they became true ambassadors of the sport. On a personal note, I am forever grateful for the trust he showed in taking a shot on a young kid without any professional skills as streaming games on platforms like ESPN3 were just starting to generate momentum. I will always appreciate his guidance, mentorship and empathy as we navigated each season together.”

Heather Lee Claggett
Associate Producer, ESPN

“I call him my ‘Work Dad’ because I know he cares not only about my career, but all aspects of my life. He is always encouraging me to be mentally and physically healthy so that I can put my best foot forward for others like he does.

JV took a sport like lacrosse and really brought it to life on people’s screens in a way that no one would have imagined when he started. He knew that the lacrosse world was watching, took that responsibility and continued to set the bar higher every year for our broadcasts. He does this with his employees, too. Five years ago, he saw an opportunity for me to be a leader in our lacrosse coverage. Through that role, he has continued to believe in me and has made me a better leader year after year. He has taught me to love lacrosse through his passion for it, and now I don’t want to go a spring season or Memorial Day without it.”

Dave Pietramala
Former Johns Hopkins coach

“The growth and popularity of our great game, especially at the collegiate level, can in part be directly tied to television. While behind the scenes, few have had the positive impact that John Vassallo from ESPN has. He supported, promoted and produced many of the games we have seen on television. He has quietly helped bring lacrosse to our homes for so many to enjoy over the years. Hats off to a terrific producer and supporter and even better man. Thank you, John.”

Mark Dixon
ESPN analyst

“John has helped take the regional coverage of the sport to a national level. Sure, Championship Weekend had been a staple since the mid-90s, but with the birth of ESPNU in 2005, JV oversaw the multiplication of games from those few on Memorial Day Weekend to at least one game or multiple games shown to a national audience on a weekly basis. All of a sudden, kids in non-traditional pockets are watching these games consistently and saying to themselves, ‘That can be me!’ 

JV’s leadership at ESPN in being a champion of the sport has been a huge reason why the game has grown and college rosters have players from all over the country on them.

Personally, JV has been a mentor and a friend. We have had numerous conversations over the years where he has provided me guidance and advice on how to approach and/or handle situations as it pertains to broadcasting. He always takes the time to lend his personal experience without making it about him, his opinion without trying to sway one way or the other. It has been a real gift for me to have him as such a valued resource.”

Mike Corey
ESPN Play-by-play announcer

“When I began at ESPN 10 years ago, it was through lacrosse. JV was one of the ones who gave me that opportunity. I looked up the game to see Feb. 26, 2011 — Siena at Johns Hopkins. The first of many games that I called that season as I began working at the network that I dreamed of years and years ago.

Then, just a year later, when I was at Championship Weekend at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro on Memorial Day in 2012, he pulled me aside to ask me what it would take to get me to come aboard ESPN full-time and call football, basketball and lacrosse beginning in the fall. I ended up signing my first contract that summer. I will never forget that and how he helped get me to where I am today.

He has always been special to me, and I have always appreciated how much he has done for me personally and professionally. I know he loves the sport, and I can only imagine how much time, effort and energy he has put into it over the years to see that our coverage is the best it could possibly be, especially through all the changes and challenges we face year after year. He will be missed in all aspects at ESPN, especially for all of us who had the pleasure to work with him and get to know him so well over these years. 

I know our relationship will continue on, and I'm thankful for that.  JV, thank you for all that you have done for all of us for so many years!”