Jay Harris was born on February 22, 1965, in Norfolk, Virginia. Following his parents’ divorce, he moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he graduated from Chapel Hill High School in 1983. He then attended Old Dominion University, where he met his future wife Stephanie at a fraternity dance and earned a Bachelor of Science in Speech Communication in 1987.

Harris began his broadcasting career in radio in Norfolk at WOWI-FM before moving to Pittsburgh, where he worked at WAMO-FM. He also worked at American Urban Radio Networks and as a weeknight news anchor at WPGH-TV. He then joined ESPN in February 2003 as an ESPNEWS anchor and made his first SportsCenter appearance in May 2003. Over time, he expanded his portfolio across Outside the Lines, NFL Live, Baseball Tonight, Cold Pizza, and Friday Night Fights.

Harris has served as an anchor on SportsCenter for over two decades, including weekend morning editions. In June 2025, he appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to publicly announce a prostate cancer diagnosis, urging viewers to get routine screenings. He underwent surgery in June 2025 and returned to ESPN about a month later.