ESPN Sportscaster Mees Drowns in Pool Accident

Tom Mees, one of ESPN’s original sports anchors, drowned Wednesday in a swimming accident in a neighbor’s pool, police said. His wife told police he couldn’t swim.

Southington police Capt. Domenic Lombardo said the only people present during the accident were Mees, 46, and his two daughters, Gabrielle, 4, and Lauren, 8.

Mees’ wife, Michelle, found her husband at the bottom of the pool after Lauren ran to their home next door to get her, police said. The younger child was out of the pool.

A lawn maintenance man pulled Mees from the water, police and fire officials said.

Mees had no pulse or respiration when he was brought to Bradley Memorial Hospital at 2:50 p.m. and efforts to revive him failed. He was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m., said Richard Corcoran, hospital vice president.

Mees was the anchor of ESPN’s nightly highlights show “SportsCenter” from the network’s inception on Sept. 7, 1979, until 1993.

Since then, he worked as the play-by-play NHL commentator on sister network ESPN2, generally calling two games a week. Over the last two years, he also broadcast college football and basketball and was host of the NHL draft.