Chris Mortensen, ESPN award-winning football analyst, dies at 72:-Chris Mortensen, a writer who won multiple awards and worked as a football analyst for ESPN, passed away on Sunday, according to the network. He was 72 years old.
Chris Mortensen, ESPN award-winning football analyst, dies at 72
“Mort was widely respected as an industry pioneer and universally beloved as a supportive, hard-working teammate,” said Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN, in a statement. “Mort was a pioneer in the industry.” His coverage of the National Football League (NFL) was marked by great skill and enthusiasm, and he led the field for several decades. Colleagues and fans alike will miss him tremendously, and our thoughts and best wishes are with his family and friends at this time.
Mortensen disclosed in January 2016 that he was suffering from throat cancer in the fourth stage.
After working as a reporter for a newspaper for a number of years and serving as a consultant for “NFL Today” on CBS, he made his debut on ESPN in 1991, participating on their “NFL GameDay” and “Outside the Lines” programmes. During his time working at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1987, he was honoured with the George Polk Award for Investigative Journalism.
“Today is a sad day for everyone in the National Football League. The commissioner of the National Football League, Roger Goodell, wrote in a statement that he recognised the amount of effort that Chris put in to become one of the most powerful and revered reporters in the sports industry. “He not only won our respect, but also the respect of a great number of other people, by his dogged pursuit of news, but also through the generosity he showed to everyone he came in contact with.
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“Many of us in the league who had the good fortune to know him well beyond the stories he broke each Sunday will miss him very much. He will be greatly missed.” We would want to express our sympathies to his family, his coworkers, and all of the people who Chris had an impact on over his very long and fruitful life.
After serving in the Army for two years during the Vietnam War, Mortensen began his career as a journalist in 1969 at The Daily Breeze, a newspaper that was situated in Torrance, California, which was his hometown. During his career, he was nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes and worked for The Sporting News and The National before joining ESPN. During his time at ESPN, he was also selected for a Pulitzer Prize.
In 2016, Mortensen was honored with the Dick McCann Award, which is presented annually by the Pro Football Writers of America.
In the early days of ESPN, Mort was instrumental in establishing the standard for journalism. The executive editor and head of studio production for ESPN, Norby Williamson, said in a statement that the credibility, attention to detail, and reporting skills of the individual in question “catapulted our news and information to a new level.” Furthermore, he was an outstanding human being and a wonderful member of the team. He exemplified the values of caring and respect for others, which eventually formed the ethos of ESPN.
Mortensen, who was a senior NFL analyst at ESPN, was a regular contributor to the network’s coverage of the National Football League (NFL) and appeared on a number of NFL-related shows throughout the course of the year.
While attending the University of Arkansas, Mortensen’s son, Alex, was a quarterback for the school. In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife Micki.