Rising Stars: Meet Anne Montgomery

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anne Montgomery.

Hi Anne, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In the early 1970’s, I decided to be a sportscaster. It did not occur to me at the time that my dream bordered on ridiculous since I was told women would never be sportscasters. However, I’m stubborn, so I got a degree in communications and started sending out resumes. I was completely ignored. There are moments in one’s life when the unexpected happens, and everything changes. For me, that occurred one night in 1978 when my aunt invited me to join her and a friend at a Washington Capitals game. As the game was boring, we talked a lot, and the fact that the man was an amateur ice hockey official cropped up.

“There just aren’t enough officials to cover the games,” he said. “Why not?” Judy asked. “Officiating’s not an easy job.” “Wait! Annie can skate!” Judy turned to me. “Why don’t you become a hockey referee?” I considered the idea for a moment. I’d grown up figure skating and ice dancing, so I said, “Sure.”

The morning of that first game, I organized a group of five-year-old hockey players into their proper positions and leaned over to drop the puck for the faceoff. Then I fell. But that wasn’t the worst part. When I sheepishly tried to get up, I dug my skate into the ice and fell again. It was the lack of toe picks that tripped me up. Those are the sharp points on the front end of a figure skate blade, saw-like protrusions utilized for executing jumps or—for lazy skaters like me—digging into the ice to get up after a fall.

Two more times, I tried and fell in front of those tiny kids, and I can still recall them staring down at me, leaning on their little sawed-off sticks, helmets tilting rakishly. I’ll admit that I remember little else from the contest, but the trip home that morning is quite clear. As I drove, I considered that I’d read a rule book from front to back.

I’d passed a test on those rules. I wondered how many coaches, players, and parents had ever bothered to do the same. I guessed not many. And that gave me an idea. While I could not go back and play the five main team spectator sports, maybe I could learn exactly how those games were meant to be played. Maybe, if I became a certified amateur sports official in football, baseball, ice hockey, soccer, and basketball, I could convince some forward-thinking news director that I understood the games as much or more than someone who’d had the opportunity to play them.

And that’s exactly what happened. My first TV job came at WRBL-TV in Columbus, Georgia. It led to positions at WROC-TV in Rochester, New York, KTSP-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, and ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, where I anchored the Emmy and ACE award-winning SportsCenter. I also did a two-year stint as the NBA’s Phoenix Suns studio host. But then, life changed for me again. As I was approaching forty, my last contract was not renewed. I was no longer pretty enough to be in front of a TV camera. I spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself and soon found myself back on the playing field. One day, I’d been on national TV; the next, I was umpiring amateur baseball and football games.

Friends convinced me I would be a good teacher, so I returned to college at 42 and was eventually hired to teach in a Title I school in Phoenix, Arizona. That designation is for schools where many of the students live in poverty. For 20 years, I spent my time with children who dealt with hunger and neglect, gangs and drugs, many with no positive adults, and others who were homeless or in foster care. During that time, I saw the ravages of societal issues up close. I became an author, and though people expected me to write about sports, instead, my novels centered on the evils my students confronted: rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and religious cults. I also penned books on PTSD, archeological looting, and environmental issues. Though I am now retired from teaching, my children often remind me of that time. I became a foster mom at 55 when a scared 14-year-old boy asked for my help. Today, I have three boys and a girl, all of whom were my former students and are now in their 20s.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I can’t recall how many times I’ve been told no. “You can’t be a referee!” “You can’t be a sportscaster!” In those fields, I was pretty much the only woman. I did not fit into those male bastions. My sportscasting peers sometimes sabotaged my work, and though I would officiate for four decades, primarily in football and baseball, I was still not accepted by some of the men I worked with. When no one would hire me to be on TV, I applied to be a reporter for a small local newspaper. “You can’t be a writer!” the news director said the day we met. I explained that I’d written everything I said on TV, and though he was skeptical, he gave me a chance. It’s telling that I excitedly jumped at that $ 7.00-an-hour job. Ultimately, my stories kept appearing on the front page; eventually, I would write for three magazines and three newspapers. While I often covered sports, I began writing feature articles and movie reviews. The fact that I managed to become a writer was a surprise. I discovered I was dyslexic in my fifties. It explained a lot. I recall how incredulous my older brother was when he discovered I’d been accepted to college. “You’ll never make it through the first semester of your freshman year,” he said. “You’re too stupid!” And yet, today, I am the author of five traditionally published novels, with a sixth due out in June 2024. I now understand that “No!” is a gift of sorts. Perhaps if my road had been smooth, I would not have worked as hard.

I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am now retired from sports reporting and officiating, but I am proud of my time in both those fields. I recall the last football game I refereed. It was a high school varsity contest, and I didn’t realize until the end that two young ladies were playing for the visiting team. After the game, I asked to take my picture with them, and one girl looked at me and said, “Do you know why we play football, ma’am?” I shook my head. “We play so that other girls know they can too.” I’ll admit, I cried. Today, many more women are sports reporters, and women are finally moving up in the officiating ranks. I want to think that, in some small way, I helped move things forward. I am also proud of my work as an author. As mentioned, my novels deal with societal issues, many of which I saw up close as a teacher. Toward the end of my career, I helmed a support group for children with myriad problems: mental health issues, depression, abuse, and neglect, some in foster care, others with a parent in prison. It made me realize how spoiled I was, even in my darkest moments. I hope that people will read my books and feel a spark that will make them want to help others and ultimately make our world better.

How do you think about luck?
I don’t believe in luck. We make good things happen by working toward our goals and sticking to that road, wherever it might lead. If we are curious, take chances, and are willing to monitor and adjust, our lives will be endlessly fascinating.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://annemontgomerywriter.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anne.montgomery.359/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-montgomery-1b995b23/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/amontgomery8