When it comes to relevance, authoritativeness, engagement, and thoroughness in sports journalism, Zach Lowe only comes second to Adrian Wojnarowski. The sportswriter, who is also a blogger and podcaster, has made a name for himself thanks to his distinct sportswriting ability which he gained from his early career as a court reporter. Lowe is known for his use of video clips which provide evidence to his claims as well as a balanced approach to his articles. This introduction, however, does not capture in entirety who the American sports journalist is, find out more about him below.
Who is Zach Lowe?
Zach Lowe was born Zachariah Ulysses Lowe on the 24th of August, 1977, in Stamford, Connecticut. The names of his parents are not known, however, he is said to be the grandson of Syrian immigrants.
Lowe attended Greenwich High School before enrolling at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. He graduated in 1999 and proceeded to teach at Cresskill High School in New Jersey. His next academic pursuit was to acquire a master’s degree in Journalism, which he got from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has since then gone on to grow in his practice of journalism particularly as it pertains to sports which is his area of specialty.
Here are 5 Facts to Know About the American Sports Journalist
1. Journalism Career
Before Zach Lowe began his sportswriting career in 2010 with Sports Illustrated magazine, he was a reporter for non-sports related subjects, specifically the criminal justice system, for Stamford, Connecticut’s The Advocate and then a writer for the monthly law magazine, The American Lawyer.
From 2004 to 2008, Lowe worked as a crime, government, and court reporter with his hometown daily newspaper, Stamford Advocate. After his stint there, he moved on to The American Lawyer, where he spent two years before deciding to take on sports writing. Prior to his fully making the switch, Lowe had written part-time for the fan blog website CelticsHub.com where his work received appreciation from the public, prompting him to make the move.
As a part of the Sports Illustrated team, Lowe ran an NBA column blog titled Point Forward where he applied an analytics-based approach to sports writing. By 2012, his work had gotten the attention of sports columnist Bill Simmons who recruited him to work as an NBA analyst on Grantland, an ESPN-owned sports blog. Lowe’s profile in the sports journalism world continued to grow in the coming years as the general public began to take note of him, rather than just an underling to Simmons. By 2015, Grantland was closed and Lowe became somewhat of a “free agent”. There was a little tussle for his services but ESPN eventually enticed him to stay.
2. Zach Lowe Salary and Net Worth
In recent years, Zach Lowe has been repeatedly taunted as the best sportswriter in America. In 2016, it was reported that ESPN offered him hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to retain his services when Bleacher Report was “aggressively” courting him. Add his supposed salary from ESPN to what he earns from his blogging and podcasting endeavors, among other things, and you can see why he is said to be worth around $1.5 million.
3. Family, Wife
Zach Lowe is married to Vesna Jaksic, an immigrant from former Yugoslavia, modern-day Croatia, who works as a writer and communications consultant that focuses on human rights, foreign affairs, and immigration. According to her website, Jaksic is bilingual, has a master’s degree in International Affairs, and has worked at leading non-profit organizations in several countries across the world.
The couple, who is said to have met during their time at The Advocate, in Stamford, Connecticut, reportedly exchanged vows on the 3rd of July 2012. They have since welcomed a daughter and reside together in New York City.
4. Two Masters’s Degrees
Before acquiring his master’s in Journalism, Zach Lowe had attended the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he got a master of Arts in U.S. History. To complete the requirements for the degree, he wrote a thesis on post-Civil War reconstruction.
5. Zach Lowe Hosts a Weekly Podcast
In addition to his sportswriting for ESPN, which includes the weekly NBA article titled “Ten Things I Like And Don’t Like, Including…”, Zach Lowe hosts a weekly podcast called “The Lowe Post”. On the podcast, he holds casual conversations about everything concerning basketball with other journalists, NBA players, coaches, and general managers alike.
