Scott documentary reflects on sportscaster’s legacy

Before Stuart Scott, the exclamation “boo-yah” was used to express joy.

- By ANTHONY SOLORZANO

STUART SCOTT accepts the Jimmy V award for perseverance at the ESPY Awards in L.A. in 2014. Scott, a longtime “SportsCenter” anchor, died in 2015.

(JOHN SHEARER Invision)

When the late ESPN anchor made it one of his catchphrases, it instantly entered the sports vernacular.Director Andre Gaines explores the impact Scott had on the media landscape in his “30 for 30” documentary for ESPN, “Boo-Yah: A Portrait of Stuart Scott,” which premiered last week.

“He can easily be reduced down to a number of different things, maybe his catchphrases, maybe his style,” Gaines told The Times. “All of these types of things are very reductive and have the ability to sort of diminish his legacy, but the reality is that broadcasting, prior to Stu, looked very different than it did after Stuart.”

The Times spoke to Gaines about the emotional journey he took making the film and capturing the “grit and perseverance” that made Scott a staple of broadcast journalism. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It really had to do with one of the main themes, conceptually, of the film — the fact that Stuart truly believed that you could manifest your own destiny. It was part of his belief when he tried out for the Jets, was part of his belief when he became the icon that he was. It was something that he really saw, and we had this proof of this through his video journals that he kept over the course of his life that we try to showcase very heavily in the film. So, I wanted to start the film off with a quote from him that was exemplary of that.