Chris Mortensen, an award-winning journalist who reported on the NFL for ESPN for more than three decades, died Sunday morning at the age of 72, his family announced.
Mortensen joined ESPN in 1991 and was a regular contributor to the network’s NFL shows and “SportsCenter.” He was a regular news breaker for ESPN, including the news in 2016 that Peyton Manning was retiring from the NFL.
Manning, in a post to Instagram, wrote that he was “heartbroken” by the news of Mortensen’s death.
“We lost a true legend. Mort was the best in the business and I cherished our friendship. I trusted him with my announcement to sign with the Broncos and with the news of my retirement. I will miss him dearly and my thoughts and prayers are with Micki & his family. Rest in peace, Mort,” Manning said in his post.
In 2016, he received the Pro Football Writers of America’s Dick McCann Award and was honored during the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s enshrinement ceremony in August that year.
“Mort was widely respected as an industry pioneer and universally beloved as a supportive, hard-working teammate,” Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN, said in a statement. “He covered the NFL with extraordinary skill and passion, and was at the top of his field for decades. He will truly be missed by colleagues and fans, and our hearts and thoughts are with his loved ones.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, a longtime colleague of Mortensen’s on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown,” said on social media: “An absolutely devastating day. Mort was one of the greatest reporters in sports history, and an even better man. Sincerest condolences to his family, and all who knew and loved him. So many did. Mort was the very best. He will be forever missed and remembered.”
Mortensen, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer in January 2016, stepped away from his role at ESPN last year “to focus on my health, family and faith,” he said.
“Mort helped set the journalism standard in the early days of ESPN. His credibility, attention to detail and reporting skills catapulted our news and information to a new level,” Norby Williamson, executive editor and head of studio production for ESPN, said in a statement. “More importantly, he was a great teammate and human being. He personified care and respect for people which became the culture of ESPN.”
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy posted on social media that Mortensen’s death was “devastating news for everyone in the NFL and anyone who ever watched him or read any of his stories. He was so kind to everyone he met – fans, players, execs, colleagues and me as a much younger comms person and all the way through to his final story years later.”
Before coming to ESPN, he wrote for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1983 to ’90), covering the Falcons, Braves and the NFL, and won the George Polk Award in 1987 for his reporting. He also was one of the first writers hired by editor Frank Deford at the sports daily The National, working there from 1989 to 1990 before coming to ESPN.
He also was a columnist for The Sporting News, a contributor to Sport magazine, and a consultant with CBS Sports’ “NFL Today” (1990).
Mortensen, who began his journalism career at the South Bay (California) Daily Breeze in 1969, won the National Headliner Award for investigative reporting in all categories in 1978. He received 18 awards in journalism and was nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes in his career.
He also was the author of the book “Playing for Keeps: How One Man Stopped the Mob from Sinking its Hooks into Pro Football.”
Mortensen, a native of Torrance, California, was born on Nov. 7, 1951. He attended El Camino College before serving two years in the Army.
He is survived by his wife, Micki, and son, Alex.