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.
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By all accounts a wonderful man.
Was literally chatting with him and Schefter in between live shots at the draft.
Told Schefter to go to Ben Benson's, he showed up with Trent Dilfer.....Dilfer proceeded to drop more F bombs than MLF during a post game win 😆 along with a few glasses of Cab.
RIP Mort 🫤
Mort was always my favorite. Lost John Clayton recently too. Sucks
Old school guys for sure.
RIP, Mort. I bet you'll have some good insights into the afterlife games.
Dang...Rip Mort...
RIP Mort. One of the very best.
RIP Mort you were one of the best
Mort was awesome ! And a true gentleman
In the early days of NFL news reporting, there was a friendly rivalry between him and schefturd to get the latest scoops. Mort kept it on the straight & narrow, but once he was diagnosed with cancer, he took a step back.
And that's when the asshole-ness of schefturd really came out. And that's when I realized what a real gem Mort was in life and in business.
The difference couldn't be more stark.
RIP Mort and thanks for doing it the right way, a real gift to NFL fans