Alema Harrington

Alema Harrington is the television host for the Utah Jazz pre-, half-, and post-game shows. He is a former sports talk radio host and former KSL-TV weekend sports anchor. He graduated from high school in his native Honolulu, Hawaii, and lettered four times in track, three times in football, and once in basketball. At Brigham Young University, he played football from 1984 to 1988 and earned a degree in communications and sociology.

He is a licensed Substance Abuse Disorder counselor and worked with people suffering from the disease of addiction for five years. He is also a motivational speaker.

Alema has been candid about his own on-going recovery from drug addiction.[1] He started taking drugs during high school and became addicted to pain killers while playing football at BYU.

After completing rehab in Hawaii, he began work as a broadcast journalist. He then moved to Utah and began working for KSL-TV. He managed to get his addiction under control after rehab and was sober from 1992 to 2000. In 2000 he relapsed. He said his leaders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helped him. He has relapsed a few times and “believes that the mental fight to remain sober will play a role in his life forever.”[2]

He is the son of Al Harrington, an actor and entertainer. Alema is the father of five children.