(WSVN) - After 40 years in the business, more than half of them at WSVN, Sports Director Steve Shapiro is calling it a career.
Shapiro’s WSVN career began way back in 1997 at the ripe old age of 42.
His hair color has changed several times in his 24 years at Channel 7.
“Shappy” has covered every sport imaginable along the way, from the 2003 World Series, where he ran the bases at Yankee Stadium.
“I can’t believe the Florida Marlins beat the New York Chokies,” Shapiro said after they claimed the title. “Did I say Chokies? I didn’t mean to say Chokies. I meant to say the New York Chokies.”
To Dwyane Wade’s final game.
“Definitely a lot of the moments that have been on that stage came back to my mind, but I wasn’t emotional,” Wade said to Shapiro.
“It’s just been the best,” Shapiro said. “I can’t imagine anything else I would have preferred to do or what I would have been better at than what I’ve been doing for the last 40 years in television news. It’s been the best.”
As the longest-tenured sportscaster in South Florida television history, Shappy has graced television sets through the highs and the lows. No story more difficult to cover than the tragic death of Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez in 2016.
Shappy was even king of the theater of the absurd.
In 2019, Shappy received one of the highest honors for a broadcast journalist, being inducted into the Silver Circle.
He definitely had a style of his own — one that will never be duplicated, and maybe that’s a good thing.
“You just saw me in that big reporter scrum? Well, look at this,” Shapiro said. “Some dopey writer was standing next to me, ruined my nice silk shirt!”
“Hey. Mike, you know, when I introduced myself as you, and I went up to the guys and said, ‘Hey, I’m Mike DiPasquale.’ Right after that, I trashed his locker,” Shapiro said.
“Hey, yo, hey, forget about it. My boys are going to beat the Jets by 21 points or my name isn’t Stevie Sunshine. You know what I’m saying? 7 Sports over here,” Shapiro said.
After all these years here at the circle seven, Stevie Sunshine is finally hanging up his proverbial cleats.
“I’ll miss being at the big events,” Shapiro said. “I’ll miss being at the places everybody wants to be, and I’m getting paid to be: the NBA Finals, Super Bowls, the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, bowl games, the thump, the heartbeat of the big event. That’s for sure is what I’ll miss the most.”
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