ESPN power couple the Cornettes: Their love was born amid tragedy and loss. Then came Joey
INDIANAPOLIS — When Shae Peppler met Jordan Cornette, her teenage sister had Stage 4 cancer. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The cancer had spread through her body to its most advanced stages. The diagnosis was the kind no one wanted to say out loud.
Jordan, a former Notre Dame basketball player looked at Shae, an Indiana University graduate, as they worked alongside one another at "Campus Insiders." He saw a smart, driven sports reporter — and he saw a woman with a heart that ached for her sister.
Amid the fast-paced world of sports media and the personal sadness, Shae and Jordan felt a spark that really can't be explained. Somehow, Shae made Jordan laugh even when he wanted to cry for her. Somehow, Jordan made Shae laugh even when she wanted to crawl under the covers and sob.
The two started dating, their love grew, Shae's sister, Coley, started getting better — and then tragedy struck again. As Shae's little sister fought to recover, Jordan's big brother died.
Jordan's brother was Joel Cornette, a former basketball star at Butler, part of the 2003 team that sent Butler to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in 41 years, helping to propel the small school to a basketball powerhouse that would eventually make it to back-to-back NCAA championship games in 2010 and 2011.
Joel, a 35-year-old sports agent in Chicago, was found dead inside an apartment in 2016. He died from coronary atherosclerosis, a condition that slowly narrows and hardens arteries of the heart and is commonly called coronary artery disease. The manner of Joel's death was natural, medical examiners told the family.
Natural. It didn't feel that way. "His time on this earth was short lived," Jordan said. "Joey (what Joel was called by family and friends) had just gotten to know Shae. He really liked her." And then he was gone.
In the months that followed, Jordan and Shae looked at one another and knew. If they could make it through all this adversity together, they could make it through anything together.
The couple was married in 2019. And less than a year later, they made ESPN history when they became the first married duo to host a show on ESPN Radio.
Today they are Mr. and Mrs. ESPN. Along with their Sunday radio show, "GameDay," Jordan is an ESPN host and analyst and Shae is a SportsCenter anchor.
And as their careers have soared, their love born amid tragedy and loss has turned around in ways neither could have ever imagined.
'I pray to my brother every night'
Coley is cancer free, a senior at IU studying to be a nurse. Joel is living on through the Cornettes' 19-month old son Joey, who is named after his uncle. The Cornettes also have 15-year-old Carter, Jordan's son from a previous relationship, who adores Shae and who Shae loves like her own. And they have a baby girl on the way, due Dec. 31.
But Joey. He has been a light, a way to carry on Joel's legacy and his memory.
Inside the Cornettes' home is a book filled with pictures of Uncle Joel at Butler basketball games, at Notre Dame football games, with family and friends.
"It's really cool. Shae will always say, 'Go get Uncle Joey,'" Jordan told IndyStar last week. "And he'll grab the book and he'll give Uncle Joey a kiss (on the pages) and hand it to us and want to sit on our laps and look at it."
That, Jordan and Shae say, is their way of feeling like Joel is still here. "I still talk to my brother," Jordan said, "I pray to my brother every night before I go to bed."
On the television screen and on radio waves, they may be the power couple of ESPN. But at home, Jordan and Shae say they are nothing less and nothing more than the typical married couple who laughs at one another, annoys one another and who pour their hearts and souls into being mom and dad.
There are nights when Jordan is home with Joey, feeding him dinner as they watch Shae on SportsCenter. There are times when Shae is home, playing cars and trucks with Joey as they watch Jordan on TV at a football game.
"Becoming parents together while navigating our careers has been a challenge," Jordan said. Today's media, especially sports media, is intense, 24/7, round the clock work.
But ESPN has been great to the couple. There are times, a boss will walk up to Shae, "Who's got the baby on this day? Can you do this. Can Jordan do that?"
"They know to ask," Shae said. "We are rare at ESPN. We have a family and are married."
The couple has learned to navigate their schedules in a way that feels right for them. "We want to protect what we have at home," Jordan said. Because the Cornettes know what is truly important in life. And it's not the lights in a television studio.
"We know we want to have a solid family, a happy family at home," Jordan said. "That is what matters."
The Cornettes: From baby names to Woodson to Matta to Brey
The baby girl's name....
As Jordan and Shae talk to IndyStar, they tease one another and laugh. When asked what they will name their baby girl, who is due in a matter of weeks, Shae said they aren't sure.
"We will see her and then decide," she says.
"Notice how she is saying 'we'" Jordan jokes. "It won't be 'we.' She will decide on the name. Come on.'"
Shae, an IU grad and Hoosiers basketball fan, on Mike Woodson hire...
"I didn't know a lot about him at first," Shae said. Then she talked to Jordan, researched Woodson and saw his recruiting knowledge, history in coaching and his on-court philosophies.
Then she saw the team start winning (IU is 8-2). "This is a completely different basketball team," Shae said. "I'm so pleased with the hire. It's been a long time since IU was considered one of the blue-blood programs."
Jordan on Butler's new coach Thad Matta...
"Full disclosure, I wasn't too happy how things went down with LaVall (Jordan)," Jordan said. LaVall Jordan was fired as Butler basketball coach in April, replaced by former Butler coach Thad Matta.
"Having my brother and LaVall play there (at Butler together), LaVall is like a big brother to me," Jordan said. "So I wasn't glad that would happen. But if someone was going to replace him, I couldn't be happier it is Thad Matta.
"Thad is a very good guy and a guy that understands what it takes to win at Butler and playing with that chip on the shoulder that they got away from the past few years. And the names on that staff? It's going to happen for them."
On his former Notre Dame basketball team...
"I'm just happy coach (Mike) Brey is still doing it," Jordan said. "He's become the winningest coach there."
Jordan and Brey, the Notre Dame basketball coach, talk often and Jordan calls him "a friend of mine." "He played a big role in my career, getting started in media, trying to figure out what I wanted to do."
Looking back...
Neither Jordan nor Shae take for granted where they are now. Shae will call Coley, who is going into pediatric nursing, to ask medical questions about Joey. It is an amazing and wonderful feeling to have her sister here and healthy.
"I lean on her," Shae said.
Jordan thinks back to those early days of their relationship when Coley was fighting cancer and the day he and Shae were crying at his brother's funeral and finds peace.
"One of the things with our life story is we've gone through a lot since we came together," Jordan said. "We've always looked at one another and known no matter how turbulent life gets, we have each other."
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ESPN power couple Jordan and Shae Cornette on tragedy, love and life
