Women's basketball alumna has made her mark in television production
By: Eric Detweiler, GW Athletics Communications
Kofi Kingston stepped off the plane in Ghana's capital city of Accra to a hero's welcome.
Locals, with cell phones held high recording and voices at full throat, packed the airport to catch a glimpse of the WWE Superstar and native son of the West African nation.
Over five jam-packed days in May 2019, the jubilant scene repeated itself in villages across the country with fans swarming to celebrate the pro wrestling outfit's first African-born world champion with song and dance.
Heather Mitchell led a WWE documentary crew accompanying Kingston every incredible step of the way.
"It just felt like pure joy," said Mitchell, remembering the historic trip chronicled in an episode of WWE 24, Kofi Kingston: The Year of Return. "To be able to document that was just unbelievable."
WWE's Creative Director for Special Projects and a GW women's basketball alumna, Mitchell ('86) has relished telling such stories – working for Major League Baseball, then the XFL and now WWE – over more than three decades in television production.
Kingston's journey, part of Ghana's Year of Return to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of the first enslaved Africans arriving in the U.S., was as meaningful as any of them.
"I always like to say at WWE, 'Never say never,'" Mitchell said. "The most interesting project that you never see coming will come."
Before devoting her life to sports storytelling, Mitchell put together her own underdog tale on the hardwood.
A 5-foot-5 point guard coming out of Fairfield, Conn., Mitchell made the trip to Foggy Bottom as a high school senior for a tryout. It did not go well.
"I was underwhelming, at best." Mitchell remembered with a laugh.
After months of hearing nothing from the GW staff, Mitchell mustered up the courage to call. She learned that they'd already handed out a scholarship to another point guard.
No problem, Mitchell decided through tears. She'd walk on with the Colonials, starting in the 1982-83 season.
Over four years in Buff and Blue, Mitchell didn't play much, but she took her role seriously and contributed where she could.
Memorably, she was ready to help on Jan. 25, 1985: After a lackluster first half that saw the Colonials in a double-digit hole vs. Fairleigh Dickinson, head coach Denise Fiore, understandably perturbed, asked for volunteers to start the second. With little to lose, Mitchell's hand shot up, and she proceeded to help the Colonials rally for an 86-71 victory.
"I had that one shining moment," Mitchell said. "It was sort of like a movie. I remember it so well."
Named a co-captain as a senior in 1985-86, Mitchell's hard work was rewarded in her final season when she earned a scholarship. It made for a satisfying close to a collegiate career that required serious determination and has led to lifelong friendships with the many of her former teammates, including Hall of Famer Kas Allen.
"It's a good example of either blind faith or tenacity – I don't know which," said Mitchell, whose career coincided with the start of A-10 women's basketball competition. "I don't know if the coach felt I earned it or if she was just tired of me badgering her every year, but it meant so much to me. I remember I couldn't wait to tell my mom."
While at GW, Mitchell laid the groundwork for her career. A History major with a particular interest in African American history thanks to popular professor Dr. James Oliver Horton, she landed an internship at the local NBC station, WRC-TV, the summer after her junior year.
Mitchell started assisting entertainment reporter Arch Campbell before moving on to work as a highlight logger on the legendary local sports program, The George Michael Sports Machine. As a senior, she balanced a full plate with classwork, hoops and Sunday trips to WRC to help with Michael's weekly broadcast.
"That was probably the best preparation I could have had for the real world," Mitchell said. "A full life in college prepares you for a full life after college."
Mitchell took the LSATs before abandoning thoughts of law school. A connection at WRC helped her land her first full-time gig at Connecticut-based Phoenix Communications Group (which then handled MLB Productions) just weeks after her GW graduation.
She started out logging highlights but eventually worked her way up to a senior producer role at MLB. She worked on the long-running program This Week in Baseball and shepherded features during a memorable era for the national pastime.
Mitchell's favorite project over 16 years in MLB was a Jackie Robinson documentary marking the 50th anniversary of Robinson integrating the sport. She also interviewed President Bill Clinton as part of the opening ceremonies for Cleveland's Jacobs Field, followed Tony Gwynn's quest for his 3,000th hit and Mark McGwire's chase for his 500th home run, detailed David Cone's perfect game and much more.
"It was an exciting time in baseball, it really was," Mitchell said. "There are just so many memories."
Along the way, Mitchell discovered her passion for making sports television.
"I may have been an athlete in college, but I didn't grow up a fan of baseball or a fan of WWE," Mitchell said. "I just gravitated towards the storytelling, and the people made it for me: the people I worked with and the stories that you learn to tell." Heather Mitchell interviews President Bill Clinton at Cleveland's Jacobs Field in 1994.
That spirit guided her move to chase new challenges with the start-up XFL, which began play in February 2001.
In its lone season (before its recent revival), Mitchell produced halftime features to air on NBC broadcasts of the fledgling football league with an innovative flair started by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Learning the intricacies of a new sport as part of a famously groundbreaking broadcast operation, she'd work on her pieces during the week and then fly to a new city each weekend for a game.
"It was a whirlwind season, that's all I can say," Mitchell said. "I blinked, and it was over. It was fast-paced, non-stop, and there were definitely neat stories to tell."
Following her XFL run, Mitchell was asked to stay on with WWE. She's been at the sports entertainment company nearly 20 years now, based in Connecticut but ready to track stories around the globe. Her work has taken her to all sorts of outposts, including three trips to Iraq.
Through the years, her projects ranged from quick-hitting trailers to movie features to long-form documentaries for the WWE Network. Occasionally, she's been asked to conduct sit-down interviews with McMahon, and she's worked with countless stars – including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson – over her time with the company.
Though the WWE is carefully choreographed entertainment, Mitchell is often dealing with real stories outside the ring, such as the trip to Ghana with Kingston that featured a sobering stop at a castle that was once the final stop for enslaved people before the voyage to America.
Advances in technology have changed much about the world of television production through the years, but ultimately, the former GW guard says her mission remains the same.
"Everyone has a story, and you're just trying to create something that does some good or makes somebody think or feel something or touches someone," Mitchell said. "That's one of the things that continues to drive me is the chance to be able to find those stories and tell them."
