Erin Kate Dolan is a 23-year-old sports journalist and on-camera personality for online sportsbook PointsBet. She regularly interviews fans before NFL and MLB games as part of PointsBet’s “Public Pulse” segment. While she was filming the segment during the Monday Night Football game between the Jets and Patriots, a presumably drunk New England Patriots fan tried to kiss her during an interview.
Dolan posted the clip on Twitter and admitted “Some assume being on camera is glamorous. Sometimes it’s not.”
“I laughed off this fan trying to kiss me at MNF, but I was PISSED! I’m not the first broadcaster to experience this & I won’t be the last, unfortunately. I truly love what I do, but this field can test you.”
PointsBet said they will no longer be sending reporters into the field in order to keep them out of harms way. “There is simply no place for this. Erin, and all other broadcasters, should never have to endure this type of behavior. Until we can make sure this can’t happen again, we are not sending our reporters into situations such as these moving forward.”
Dolan was shaken up but not hurt during the incident. Multiple sports media outlets including Deadspin and Total Pro Sports
In addition to her reporting, Dolan is featured on a number of PointsBet shows including “Pick 6” with Adam Caplan, “Behind the Lines” with Michael Lombard and the “NCAA Pick 6” with Max Meyer. She is also the lead reporter for “Blitz,” and the “PointsBet vs. the People” segments and featured weekly on VSiN’s “Betting Across America.”
Dolan attended the University of Oregon her freshman year before transferring to Penn State University where she graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism with a focus in Sports Journalism. She started out as a sideline reporter for the National Lacrosse League and the BIG EAST conference before joining PointsBet.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Erin Kate Dolan is a Diehard Philadelphia Sports Fan
Dolan’s Philly roots run deep, she grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs and graduated from Penn State. Her social media is littered with posts about the Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, and Flyers. Like most Philly fans, she oscillates between supporting her teams and criticizing them.
“Philly just holds their players accountable, ??♀️” Dolan said while quote tweeting the viral video of an Eagles fan criticizing receiver Nelson Algholor.
She regularly posts from Philadelphia sporting events and talks about her teams weekly on social media.
2. She’s a Certified Personal Trainer
According to her website, Dolan is a certified personal trainer that “has always been passionate about helping people achieve their fitness goals.”
She has a YouTube channel where she posts workout videos that she films in her home gym. The videos are mostly montages of her workout routines set to upbeat music with slow-motion editing. She shares the details of her workout routines in the video descriptions.
She used to promote her videos on Instagram with previews and links in her profile. She hasn’t posted since February and has since moved on to mostly promoting her interviews and various shows on PointsBet.
3. She Was the First Woman to Win the Harry Kalas Award
The Harry Kalas Award is an annual honor given to a Philadelphia-area college student wanting to follow in the footsteps of the late Phillies broadcaster, Harry Kalas.
The award is given out by the Philadelphia Broadcasters Foundation and was started in 2009 to honor the life and work of the late Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas.
Kalas was the Philadelphia Phillies play-by-play announcer from 1971 until his death in 2009.
Dolan won the award in 2016 while she was a junior at Penn State. She was the first female recipient of the award.
“So exciting, I was so surprised when I had won and I’m very grateful for this opportunity and very, very thankful.”
Dolan was also given a $1,500 scholarship that comes with the award.
4. She Produced a Documentary About NFL Fans in London
While she was a student at Penn State, Dolan produced a documentary titled “Quiet Sundays” which follows four UK based NFL fans leading up to the 2017 NFL London Games.
The film received a number of accolades including the “Dr. George Sanger Best Student Film Award”, which comes with a $5,000 prize, at the Coronado Island Film Festival. It also won “Best Student Film” at the Dam Short Film Festival in Las Vegas and “Best Editing in a Documentary” at the Southampton International Film Festival in England.
John Affleck, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society and director of the Curley Center, was excited about all of the praise the film received.
“I’m happy to see our crew get credit for all the hard work they did on ‘Quiet Sundays,’ and it’s gratifying simply to know that people like the film.” He told Penn State News, “While the real reward of such a project is doing the project, watching this run of success is certainly nice.”
5. She Founded a Running Club at a Local High School While She Was in College
While in college, Dolan started a grade school track and field club at Drexel Neumann Academy in Chester, PA. According to her LinkedIn profile, she “solicited partnerships with local running companies to supply athletic gear for all participating athletes.”
Dolan ran track while in high school and at Oregon University.
READ NEXT: WATCH: Tennessee Politician Calls Pete Buttigieg a “queer” During a commission meeting