WASHINGTON - In March 2023, Shelley Smith, who worked for 26 years as an on-air reporter for American sports channel ESPN, received a call from Stephanie Druley, then the network’s head of studio and event production.

Druley said she wanted to talk about something “serious” that needed to stay between the two of them, Smith recalled. She then said that Smith needed to return two sports Emmy statuettes that she had been given more than a decade earlier.

That request was one of many ESPN made of some of its biggest stars last year after the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the organisation that presents the Sports Emmy Awards, uncovered a scheme that the network used to acquire more than 30 of the coveted statuettes for on-air talent ineligible to receive them.

Since at least 2010, ESPN inserted fake names in Emmy entries, then took the awards won by some of those imaginary individuals, had them re-engraved and gave them to on-air personalities.

Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard and Samantha Ponder, among others, were given the ill-gotten Emmys, according to a person briefed on the matter who was granted anonymity because the individual was not authorised to discuss it publicly. There is no evidence that the on-air individuals were aware the Emmys given to them were improperly obtained.

“I think it was really crummy what they did to me and others,” said Smith, who worked at ESPN from 1997 until her contract expired in July 2023.

The fraud was discovered by the academy, which prompted an investigation by that organisation and later by ESPN. Those inquiries resulted in penalties beyond the return of the trophies. While it is not known who orchestrated the scheme, Craig Lazarus, the vice president and executive producer for original content and features at ESPN, and Lee Fitting, a senior vice president for production who oversaw “College GameDay” and other properties, were among the ESPN employees the academy ruled ineligible from future participation in the Emmys.

In a statement, ESPN said: “Some members of our team were clearly wrong in submitting certain names that may go back to 1997 in Emmy categories where they were not eligible for recognition or statuettes. This was a misguided attempt to recognize on-air individuals who were important members of our production team.”

The network added: “We brought in outside counsel to conduct a full and thorough investigation, and individuals found to be responsible were disciplined by ESPN.”

In an email, Adam Sharp, president and CEO of the academy, said: “NATAS identified a number of fictitious credits submitted by ESPN to multiple Sports Emmys competitions. When brought to the attention of ESPN senior management, the network took steps to take responsibility for the actions of its personnel, to investigate thoroughly and to course correct. These steps have included the return by ESPN of statuettes issued to fictitious individuals and commitments to implement further internal accountability and procedural changes at the network.”

An ESPN spokesperson said Lazarus declined to comment, and Lazarus did not respond to an email seeking comment. Fitting was let go by ESPN in August 2023 after 25 years at the company. He did not respond to voice and text messages.

The nexus of the scheme was “College GameDay,” the show that Fitting helped turn into a cultural phenomenon and revenue machine.

From 2008 to 2018, it won eight Emmys for outstanding weekly studio show.

But on-air talent was, until 2023, prohibited by academy guidelines from being included in a credit list in that category. Hosts, analysts and reporters on “College GameDay” could win individual awards, such as outstanding host, studio analyst or emerging on-air talent, and they could win for an individual feature. But they were not eligible to take home a trophy for a win by the show. That rule was meant to prevent front-facing talent from winning two awards for the same work.

ESPN circumvented the rule by inserting fake names into the credit list it submitted to the academy for “College GameDay”. The Athletic reviewed the credit lists for the years the show won: 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. In each of those seven years, names similar to the names of on-air personalities – and with identical initials – were listed under the title of “associate producers.”

Kirk Henry (Kirk Herbstreit), Lee Clark (Lee Corso), Dirk Howard (Desmond Howard) and Tim Richard (Tom Rinaldi) appeared in all seven years. Steven Ponder (Sam Ponder) and Gene Wilson (Gene Wojciechowski) appeared in five from 2014-18. Chris Fulton (Chris Fowler) appeared in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015. Shelley Saunders (Shelley Smith) appeared in the 2010 credit list.

Smith was also given an Emmy for the show’s win in 2008, although it is unclear how that statuette was obtained; Shelley Saunders was not listed in the 2008 credit list viewed by The Athletic. However, networks are allowed to modify a credit list after a show is announced as a winner.

While reviewing the 2010 and 2011 credit lists, The Athletic found three additional names that could not be verified that also closely resemble the names of “College GameDay” talent: Erik Andrews (Erin Andrews) in 2011; Wendy Nickson (Wendi Nix) and Jenn Brownsmith (Jenn Brown) in 2010.

Nix confirmed that she was given an Emmy around 2010 and said she had no idea it was improperly obtained; it just arrived in the mail one day. She was not contacted about returning it before or after she left ESPN last August.

Brown, who left ESPN in 2013, confirmed she was also given one and did not know it was ill-gotten. She said: “This is all news to me and kind of unfortunate because you’ve got people who believe they rightfully had one. There are rules for a reason.”

Brown said she has not been contacted by ESPN about returning it. Andrews, who left ESPN in 2012, declined to comment through a spokesperson.

When asked why people at the network would scheme to secure trophies for on-air talent, one person involved in the ESPN Emmy submission process in recent years said: “You have to remember that those personalities are so important, and they have egos.”

Smith, for one, pushed back on that and remarked how some executives lined their office shelves with statuettes. One executive interviewed during ESPN’s inquiry said that some company leaders were obsessed with the Emmys, using the numbers of wins each year to prove their dominance over competitors. Additionally, many at ESPN disagreed with the rule preventing on-air personalities from getting statuettes for a win by the show.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences strengthened its credit verification process in 2022, and sometime in 2022 ESPN was asked to verify certain names. The network eventually admitted the names were bogus.

Smith said she was happy to win the Emmy in 2018, but those other times the trophy “would just show up and I wouldn’t even know I was supposed to get one”. NYTIMES