Reporter Chris Mortensen, a veteran of ESPN NFL, passed away at the age of 72.
Chris Mortensen, a journalist who had won multiple awards and who had spent decades reporting on the National Football League for ESPN, passed away on Sunday. He was 72 years old.
ESPN was informed by Mortensen’s family that the news was true. Additionally, in January of 2016, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer; however, the cause of his death has not been disclosed.
“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 that was posted on X/Twitter. “Mort was a pioneer in the industry.” Throughout the decades, he was at the pinnacle of his field, covering the National Football League with extraordinary skill and passion. Colleagues and fans alike will miss him tremendously, and our thoughts and best wishes are with his family and friends at this time.
Mortensen continued to report on the National Football League for ESPN for more than three decades after joining the network in 1991. ESPN’s NFL shows and “SportsCenter” both featured him as a regular contributor on a regular basis. On a regular basis, Mortensen broke news for ESPN, such as Peyton Manning’s decision to retire from the National Football League in 2016. During the same year, he was honored during the enshrinement ceremony of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was also presented with the Dick McCann Award, which is given out by the Pro Football Writers of America. In the year 2023, Mortensen decided to leave his position at ESPN in order to concentrate on his “health.”
Between the years 1983 and 1990, Mortensen was a writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he covered the National Football League, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Atlanta Braves. For his reporting, he was honored with the George Polk Award in the year 1987. Between the years 1989 and 1990, Mortensen was employed by The National, a sports daily, and was one of the first writers to be hired by the publication. In addition to that, he was a contributor to Sport magazine, a columnist for The Sporting News, and a consultant for the CBS Sports program “NFL Today.”
A total of 18 journalism awards and two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize were bestowed upon him over the course of his career. In 1969, he began his career as a journalist at the South Bay Daily Breeze. In 1978, he was awarded the National Headliner Award for investigative reporting in all categories. A native of Torrance, California, Mortensen received his education at El Camino College before enlisting in the Army for a period of two years.