Longtime ESPN commentator Chris Mortensen has died at age 72, the cable sports channel announced Sunday.
“Mort became once broadly revered as an industry pioneer and universally cherished as a supportive, laborious-working teammate,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro acknowledged in a social media statement. “He lined the NFL with unparalleled skill and fervour, and became once at the waste of his discipline for a protracted time. He will in fact be missed by colleagues and fans, and our hearts and thoughts are along with his relatives.”
Mortensen retired last April after having lined his Thirty third NFL draft. Since he started at ESPN in 1991, he reported for the community’s largest NFL broadcast reveals, as well to the “SportsCenter phase” “Contained in the Huddle.”
Mortensen, who had battled esophageal cancer for years, wrote on X in September that he had determined to focal level on his health, family and faith. He had before all the pieces taken a leave of absence after he announced his diagnosis in early 2016.
“The gratitude and humility is overwhelming. It’s no longer a classic retirement. I’ll mute be right here talking ball,” he wrote of his retirement. “It’s appropriate time. God Bless you all.”
Sooner than his iconic sports broadcasting occupation, Mortensen lined the Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta Falcons and the NFL for The Atlanta Journal-Structure, a success a George Polk Award in 1987 for his reporting. He then lined the NFL for The National Sports actions Every day, a now-defunct newspaper, earlier than he joined ESPN.
In 1991, he printed a e-book, “Taking part in for Keeps: How One Man Saved the Mob from Sinking Its Hooks into Pro Football.”
Mortensen is survived by his wife, Micki Mortensen, and a son, Alex Mortensen, who’s a soccer coach and veteran educated quarterback.
Angela Yang
Angela Yang is a culture and trends reporter for NBC Info.