Jason “Jay” Crawford was born on July 4, 1965, in Sandusky, Ohio. He competed in multiple sports at Perkins High School before studying broadcasting at Bowling Green State University. After college, he launched his career as a one-person sports operation at WYMT-TV in Hazard, Kentucky.

He then spent time working at various local markets, including Ohio and Florida, during which he earned multiple accolades. In 2003, he joined ESPN, becoming the launch host of the morning programme Cold Pizza, which later became First Take. He went on to co-anchor the live 11 p.m. SportsCenter with Chris McKendry for several years. In a lighter aside, he also appeared in three minor league baseball games in 2005 — posting a 2.25 ERA — before returning to broadcasting full time.

Crawford was laid off in the ESPN restructuring of April 2017, which cut over 100 on-air employees. After a brief break, he returned to calling games in 2018 as the play-by-play voice for the Cleveland Browns. In January 2020, he joined WKYC-TV (NBC 3) in Cleveland as a news anchor. He also hosts Lunch Break with Jay Crawford, a noontime show for the station, and co-hosts The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show on YouTube.