Kenny Mayne to participate in UNLV’s Rebel Caravan series

ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne, who announced last week that he will be leaving SportsCenter later this month, will participate in a Rebel Caravan event called “Quarterback Corner” at noon Thursday, the school announced Monday

Mayne, a former backup quarterback at UNLV, will join Rebels football coach Marcus Arroyo and athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois along with other former UNLV quarterbacks Steve Stallworth and Jason Thomas to talk about playing the position.

Those interested in watching can register at https://unlvrebels.com/sports/2021/4/20/rebel-caravan-2021.aspx.

Earlier Monday, Mayne wrote for the Los Angeles Times that he was blown away by the reaction after he tweeted May 10 his 27-year run at ESPN will soon end.

Mayne didn’t come to an agreement with ESPN on a contract extension. He is scheduled to do his final SportsCenter show May 24 “or sooner if they decide to pull the plug. And that’s the company’s right. It’s their building.”

“I’ve been floored by all the kind notes I got, and keep getting,” Mayne wrote. “Bill Walton called. Charley Steiner called. He went on and on with some folksy story that his dad told him. It was really good. Bob Ley texted. Chris Berman called to wish me well and apologize for the timing of an ESPN press release wishing him a happy birthday and announcing his contract extension on the same day my tweet blew out the sun. Truth is, I probably owe much of my career at ESPN to Berman, the godfather of the network.”

Mayne said he was concerned the news would be largely ignored, but his announcement was retweeted nearly 11,000 times and received more than 111,000 likes.

“… the next 72 hours were like nothing I’ve before experienced,” Mayne said. “I received so many calls and texts and Twitter mentions, I thought my phone was going to melt down.”

Mayne said he plans to make the most of his final week.

“It’s weird being gone, but not gone,” he wrote. “It’s also nice to make goodbyes with people in the building. I did promise that the shows might get looser. Actually, I think I said I’ll be just as unprofessional as I’ve been for the last 27 years.

“I asked my Seattle friends Jamal Crawford, Sue Bird and Marshawn Lynch if they would join the last show.

“Plus Aaron Rodgers. For news value, of course.”

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.