Bob Ley, a fixture at ESPN since the network’s launch 40 years ago, has decided to step away.

The 64-year-old Ley announced his retirement on Wednesday. He said during a phone interview that he made the decision late last month and started calling close friends and colleagues on Tuesday with the news.

Ley had been on sabbatical since last September. He was supposed to return in March but told the network he needed more time.

“The company was understanding and I couldn’t have asked for more,” Ley said. “It was a constant process (in reaching a decision). When you step away and reassess things, life assumes a different contour where it is not to-the-second deadlines ruling your life and sometimes a personality.

“There’s a heavy emotional component to all of it, but I am managing it.”

Ley was ESPN’s longest-tenured anchor, joining “SportsCenter” on the channel’s third day of operation on Sept. 9, 1979.

“Outside the Lines” reporter and anchor Jeremy Schaap found out about Ley’s departure when he received a call about doing a career retrospective on Ley for Wednesday’s show. Schaap has known Ley for more than 25 years, dating to when he started at ESPN as a producer for “Outside the Lines.”

“I think the sabbatical for Bob was a trial run. He liked his freedom,” he said. “The past couple years, though, he was better than he has ever been before. He could show us not only his reporting chops but also his thoughts and opinions. That fourth wall was breaking down and it benefited the viewers.”

Ley hosted the first NCAA selection show and the inaugural live broadcast of the NFL draft in 1980.