Cover Feature, Current
In the Game
By Susan Brierly Bush
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Long before she reported on primetime college football, covered the Olympic Games or interviewed sports’ biggest names, Kathryn Tappen was a Morristown athlete who wanted to be in the game. “I was a total sporty kid,” she says, recalling baseball games with the boys in Morristown and playing alongside her parents at Morris County Golf Club. Tennis, basketball, softball, swimming and family ski trips filled her childhood.
Long before she reported on primetime college football, covered the Olympic Games or interviewed sports’ biggest names, Kathryn Tappen was a Morristown athlete who wanted to be in the game.
“I was a total sporty kid,” she says, recalling baseball games with the boys in Morristown and playing alongside her parents at Morris County Golf Club. Tennis, basketball, softball, swimming and family ski trips filled her childhood.
But another ambition was taking shape. On her eighth-grade yearbook page at Assumption School, where students were asked to envision their future careers, Tappen wrote: “to be a broadcaster.” She loved public speaking and forensics at Assumption and later at Villa Walsh Academy. At Rutgers University, she combined those interests, studying Journalism and Media Studies with a minor in Political Science while becoming a four-year letter winner in Division l track and field and cross-country.
From Morristown to the National Stage
Tappen’s first break came in 2003, when she won a walk-on tryout at College Sports TV in New York City, now CBS College Sports, then landed a job as weekend sports anchor and weekday reporter at WJAR NBC in Providence. In 2006, at 25, she made her network television debut as a reporter for NBC’s Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Her career has since spanned networks, sports and continents. Today, Tappen is an NBC Sports sideline reporter for Big Ten Saturday Night and various NFL games. She also hosts and reports for TNT and NHL Network and recently completed her seventh Olympics in Milan Cortina. Los Angeles in 2028 could be number eight. Her résumé includes a Sports Emmy earned as part of NBCUniversal’s 2024 Paris Olympics coverage, honored for Outstanding Live Special–Championship Event.
Finding Her Place in the game
Tappen has built her career in a heavily male industry and doesn’t ignore that reality. “Men have been in charge at every major network I have ever worked at, for better or for worse. But being a female in a male-dominated industry is, quite frankly, what most industries are,” she says, pointing to women in finance and law who have faced similar dynamics. “What’s most important about these male-dominated professions is having male allies who will cheer you on, fight for your worth and goals, and help get you to where you want to be.”
She also believes that, at times, she had to be “smarter, stronger and absolutely flawless” on television because a woman’s mistake could be judged differently than a man’s. Yet, some of her biggest supporters have been males. “I have been very fortunate to have wonderful mentors along the way,” she says. In March 2020, Tappen anchored studio coverage for the St. Louis Blues–Chicago Blackhawks matchup as part of an all-female crew—the first NHL game in the United States broadcast and produced solely by women.
More than two decades into her career, at the Milan Cortina Olympics, New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal that clinched gold for Team USA. Tappen, who had followed Hughes since his days as a draft prospect, snagged an interview with him immediately afterward. “I didn’t think about anything else except asking the best questions of this athlete who clearly just had the biggest moment of his life,” she says. Hours later, when Tappen checked her phone, she realized how widely the interview had resonated. “You wait your entire career, and you may never get an interview like that,” she says. “It took me 23 years to get it. I savor that moment and am grateful it happened.”
Always Learning
Despite her accomplishments, Tappen has little interest in standing still.
In August, she earned a Master of Science in Global Sport Business from New York University, inspired by her desire to understand the increasingly international business of sports. The one-year program included four residencies in New York City, Abu Dhabi, Paris and London, where she met executives working across soccer, football, basketball and other sports. She completed it while maintaining her broadcasting career, covering an Olympics and carrying 12 credits each semester.
Her broader perspective now extends to Rutgers. Athletic Director Keli Zinn nominated Tappen to the Board of Directors of Scarlet Knight Enterprises, Inc., which oversees multimedia rights, corporate partnerships, ticketing strategy and initiatives supporting Rutgers Athletics.
Her NBC Sports deal has been extended, but she keeps her larger ambitions to herself. “I have never discussed my ultimate career goals publicly but, believe me, I have them. Goals can take many different paths, so you need to embrace the journey and accept detours along the way.”
Coming Home
Away from the cameras and stadiums, Tappen embraces a decidedly quieter life.
After years in New York City, she returned to the Morris County countryside and built her dream home, where her passions turn to interiors, gardening, nature and animals. She is “certifiably obsessed” with her tuxedo cat, Tuxy. “But anyone who meets him says the same, so I’m not a biased mother,” she jokes.
Her bucolic property has become a personal passion project. She keeps bees for honey and recently installed a wildflower meadow with local garden designer Natalie Crist. The meadow provides habitat, helps filter water and offers forage for wildlife and pollinators—including Tappen’s bees. “I’m excited to see it evolve in the coming years,” she says. “I love enjoying nature around me, and it’s my therapy.”
For someone whose work takes her across the world, home still means Morristown. The lifelong athlete remains active, playing golf at Mendham Golf & Tennis and taking Orangetheory fitness classes near her home. Tappen says she appreciates the area more as an adult, from its farm stands, gardens and restaurants to its shops and entertainment.
Dinner with friends might mean South + Pine, Agricola or The Grand Café; the Black Horse Pub is a favorite for a burger at the bar. She shops for fashion at Windswept in Mendham, browses bling at B Jewelers and F. Gerald New, and treats herself to a facial at Face Foundrie or a spa visit at Pendry Natirar. “It feels like a staycation for me,” she says, “and a much-needed recharge from the grind of my job.”
That’s what makes Tappen’s story feel so satisfyingly circular. The Morristown eighth grader who wrote “to be a broadcaster” in her yearbook reached her goal through Rutgers, Providence, New York, Las Vegas, Olympics cities and stadiums around the globe. After all those miles, she found something equally meaningful where she started: a home in the Morris County countryside, a meadow coming into bloom, a beloved cat waiting for her return and, just beyond the door, a place to breathe before the next game begins.
Cover Feature, Current
In the Game
By Susan Brierly Bush
Long before she reported on primetime college football, covered the Olympic Games or interviewed sports’ biggest names, Kathryn Tappen was a Morristown athlete who wanted to be in the game. “I was a total sporty kid,” she says, recalling baseball games with the boys in Morristown and playing alongside her parents at Morris County Golf Club. Tennis, basketball, softball, swimming and family ski trips filled her childhood.
Like this article? Share it with your friends!
Long before she reported on primetime college football, covered the Olympic Games or interviewed sports’ biggest names, Kathryn Tappen was a Morristown athlete who wanted to be in the game.
“I was a total sporty kid,” she says, recalling baseball games with the boys in Morristown and playing alongside her parents at Morris County Golf Club. Tennis, basketball, softball, swimming and family ski trips filled her childhood.
But another ambition was taking shape. On her eighth-grade yearbook page at Assumption School, where students were asked to envision their future careers, Tappen wrote: “to be a broadcaster.” She loved public speaking and forensics at Assumption and later at Villa Walsh Academy. At Rutgers University, she combined those interests, studying Journalism and Media Studies with a minor in Political Science while becoming a four-year letter winner in Division l track and field and cross-country.
From Morristown to the National Stage
Tappen’s first break came in 2003, when she won a walk-on tryout at College Sports TV in New York City, now CBS College Sports, then landed a job as weekend sports anchor and weekday reporter at WJAR NBC in Providence. In 2006, at 25, she made her network television debut as a reporter for NBC’s Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Her career has since spanned networks, sports and continents. Today, Tappen is an NBC Sports sideline reporter for Big Ten Saturday Night and various NFL games. She also hosts and reports for TNT and NHL Network and recently completed her seventh Olympics in Milan Cortina. Los Angeles in 2028 could be number eight. Her résumé includes a Sports Emmy earned as part of NBCUniversal’s 2024 Paris Olympics coverage, honored for Outstanding Live Special–Championship Event.
Finding Her Place in the game
Tappen has built her career in a heavily male industry and doesn’t ignore that reality. “Men have been in charge at every major network I have ever worked at, for better or for worse. But being a female in a male-dominated industry is, quite frankly, what most industries are,” she says, pointing to women in finance and law who have faced similar dynamics. “What’s most important about these male-dominated professions is having male allies who will cheer you on, fight for your worth and goals, and help get you to where you want to be.”
She also believes that, at times, she had to be “smarter, stronger and absolutely flawless” on television because a woman’s mistake could be judged differently than a man’s. Yet, some of her biggest supporters have been males. “I have been very fortunate to have wonderful mentors along the way,” she says. In March 2020, Tappen anchored studio coverage for the St. Louis Blues–Chicago Blackhawks matchup as part of an all-female crew—the first NHL game in the United States broadcast and produced solely by women.
More than two decades into her career, at the Milan Cortina Olympics, New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal that clinched gold for Team USA. Tappen, who had followed Hughes since his days as a draft prospect, snagged an interview with him immediately afterward. “I didn’t think about anything else except asking the best questions of this athlete who clearly just had the biggest moment of his life,” she says. Hours later, when Tappen checked her phone, she realized how widely the interview had resonated. “You wait your entire career, and you may never get an interview like that,” she says. “It took me 23 years to get it. I savor that moment and am grateful it happened.”
Always Learning
Despite her accomplishments, Tappen has little interest in standing still.
In August, she earned a Master of Science in Global Sport Business from New York University, inspired by her desire to understand the increasingly international business of sports. The one-year program included four residencies in New York City, Abu Dhabi, Paris and London, where she met executives working across soccer, football, basketball and other sports. She completed it while maintaining her broadcasting career, covering an Olympics and carrying 12 credits each semester.
Her broader perspective now extends to Rutgers. Athletic Director Keli Zinn nominated Tappen to the Board of Directors of Scarlet Knight Enterprises, Inc., which oversees multimedia rights, corporate partnerships, ticketing strategy and initiatives supporting Rutgers Athletics.
Her NBC Sports deal has been extended, but she keeps her larger ambitions to herself. “I have never discussed my ultimate career goals publicly but, believe me, I have them. Goals can take many different paths, so you need to embrace the journey and accept detours along the way.”
Coming Home
Away from the cameras and stadiums, Tappen embraces a decidedly quieter life.
After years in New York City, she returned to the Morris County countryside and built her dream home, where her passions turn to interiors, gardening, nature and animals. She is “certifiably obsessed” with her tuxedo cat, Tuxy. “But anyone who meets him says the same, so I’m not a biased mother,” she jokes.
Her bucolic property has become a personal passion project. She keeps bees for honey and recently installed a wildflower meadow with local garden designer Natalie Crist. The meadow provides habitat, helps filter water and offers forage for wildlife and pollinators—including Tappen’s bees. “I’m excited to see it evolve in the coming years,” she says. “I love enjoying nature around me, and it’s my therapy.”
For someone whose work takes her across the world, home still means Morristown. The lifelong athlete remains active, playing golf at Mendham Golf & Tennis and taking Orangetheory fitness classes near her home. Tappen says she appreciates the area more as an adult, from its farm stands, gardens and restaurants to its shops and entertainment.
Dinner with friends might mean South + Pine, Agricola or The Grand Café; the Black Horse Pub is a favorite for a burger at the bar. She shops for fashion at Windswept in Mendham, browses bling at B Jewelers and F. Gerald New, and treats herself to a facial at Face Foundrie or a spa visit at Pendry Natirar. “It feels like a staycation for me,” she says, “and a much-needed recharge from the grind of my job.”
That’s what makes Tappen’s story feel so satisfyingly circular. The Morristown eighth grader who wrote “to be a broadcaster” in her yearbook reached her goal through Rutgers, Providence, New York, Las Vegas, Olympics cities and stadiums around the globe. After all those miles, she found something equally meaningful where she started: a home in the Morris County countryside, a meadow coming into bloom, a beloved cat waiting for her return and, just beyond the door, a place to breathe before the next game begins.