Skip Bayless  Skip Bayless (born John Edward Bayless II December 4, 1951) is an American sports columnist, author, and television personality. He is well known for his work as a commentator on the ESPN2 show, "First Take", with Stephen A. Smith, a show which he left in June 2016. Bayless debuted his new show "" with Shannon Sharpe on Fox Sports 1 on September 6, 2016. Bayless was born as John Edward Bayless II in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His father, John Sr., immediately began calling him Skip – his father also had called his mother "Skip", as in "skipper of the ship". The name instantly stuck, and Bayless was never called John by his parents, to the point that he eventually had his name legally changed to Skip. His parents owned and operated the Hickory House restaurant in Oklahoma City, which specialized in barbecue. Bayless worked in the restaurant in his youth, but never considered it as a career path. His younger brother Rick Bayless carried on the family tradition and became a chef, restaurateur and television personality. He also has a younger sister. Bayless's interest in sports began at an early age and he played baseball and basketball where he averaged 1.4 ppg as a senior and played JV. Bayless was the salutatorian of Northwest Classen's graduating class of 1970. He was a two-year member of the National Honor Society and president of the school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter. He was also an officer in the letterman's club. At the urging of one of his English teachers, Bayless became the primary sports columnist for the school newspaper his junior and senior years. Prior to his senior year, Bayless represented Northwest Classen at Oklahoma Boys State. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Grantland Rice Scholarship (named for the sportswriter of the same name) to attend Vanderbilt University (Rice's alma mater). While at Vanderbilt, he majored in English and history, and graduated "cum laude" in 1974. He was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, serving two years as the chapter's "rho" (sports director). He was also the sports editor of "The Hustler", the university's student newspaper, and spent the summer of 1969 interning under sports editor Frank Boggs at "The Daily Oklahoman". Bayless went directly from Vanderbilt to "The Miami Herald", where he wrote sports features for a little more than two years. He then took a position at the "Los Angeles Times" in August 1976.