Back in 1994, veteran ESPN broadcaster Linda Cohn was devastated when the network nearly fired her just two years after she had joined. However, the network then changed its decision and, instead of parting ways, allowed Linda to refine her craft. Fast forward to today, and the rest is history. But after nearly 34 years with the network, Cohn has decided that the time has finally come to say goodbye.

“With the official announcement that I’m retiring from ESPN,” Cohn said via her Instagram handle. “The main message I want to say is, thank you. Thank you for your support, thank you for all the messages, thank you for all the kind words. I’ve had happy tears all day, every minute of this day. It just means so much that I’ve made this kind of impact when I was just doing something that I enjoyed and loved just being a sports fan like you.

“But there’s so much more I’m going to say, but right now, I wanted to make sure that I connected with you all as soon as I could, just to let you know how grateful I am. I appreciate you. And I’ll try to respond to each and every one of you. But in the meantime, just two words: Thank you. I’m leaving ESPN. But I won’t be going away. We’ll keep our connection. I can’t wait.”

As Linda’s message came, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Monday Night Football’s Troy Aikman acknowledged her legendary career at ESPN, as he wrote, “Amazing career, Linda. Your impact is significant. Well-done!🙌🏼” under her post.

Linda Cohn will officially leave ESPN on June 30. The 66-year-old kicked off her broadcasting career in 1981 by becoming the first woman to anchor a national sports radio network, writer, and sports reporter in Long Island before eventually joining ESPN in July 1992.

The network hired her to work on SportsCenter, and she anchored her first edition on July 11, 1992, alongside Chris Myers. Over a career spanning 34 years, Cohn hosted more editions of SportsCenter than anyone else at ESPN, surpassing 5,500 broadcasts. In 2016, she anchored her 5,000th edition of SportsCenter on February 21.

Along the way, she also appeared in several This Is SportsCenter television commercials. In 2017, she was ultimately inducted into the National Sports Media Association (NSMA) Hall of Fame. However, her career wasn’t without caveats. Despite early success, the network almost fired her,

“They said, ‘Linda, we know you know sports. We know you love sports, but we’re not seeing it on TV. We’re going to give you six months; we need to see improvement,'” she told Dan Patrick a decade ago. “They hired a video coach to look and watch me do highlights, and hone my skills, and I was really devastated, and then the next day, I’m like, ‘Well, wait a minute, they could have fired me right then.’ And there, I’m going to use it as a positive and say they still see something in me. They still believe in me, and the rest is history. So, I almost got fired two years in.”

That said, Linda went on to become a prominent voice in hockey coverage. She graduated from Newfield High School in Selden and was the goalie for the women’s ice hockey team at SUNY Oswego, which aligned with her interest in the NHL. After she signed her extension back in 2018, ESPN expanded her hockey responsibilities when she became the primary host of the ESPN+ hockey show “In the Crease.”

“Linda Cohn is a legend and a major part of the history of ESPN,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN President. “She has brought enthusiasm, personality, and her love of sports to our audience for more than 30 years, and her contributions to ESPN both in front of and behind the camera would make a very long list. We wish her all the best in her retirement and sincerely thank her.”

Before leaving EPSN, Linda Cohn will cover the forthcoming NHL draft this month with John Buccigross. Then, she will have her final appearances on the network during the 6 p.m., 10 p.m., and 11 p.m. ET editions on Friday.