Chris Mortensen, ESPN’s longtime NFL Insider, dies at 72
Chris Mortensen, an award-winning sportswriter who pioneered the role of the NFL insider and reported omnivorously for several ESPN programs covering trades, the draft, free-agent signings, injuries, retirements and scandals, died Sunday in Birmingham, Ala. . 72.
His death, at the home of his son, Alex, was announced by ESPN, which gave no reason. In 2016, Mr. Mortensen underwent treatment for stage 4 throat cancer. He lived in Bella Vista, Ark., in the northwest corner of the state.
Until he left the network last year, Mort, as he was known, broke news on shows like “SportsCenter,” “Sunday NFL Countdown” and “Monday NFL Countdown,” as well as on ESPN Radio.
He wasn’t the NFL’s first sports journalism insider. Will McDonough probably had that distinction, writing authoritatively for The Boston Globe and appearing on NFL pregame shows on CBS and NBC. Mr. Mortensen was followed by a series of rivals, including Peter King, at Sports Illustrated and then at NBC; Jay Glazer, at Fox Sports; Mike Florio, at Pro Football Talk; and Adam Schefter, at the NFL Network.
In 2009, Mr. Schefter became Mr. Mortensen’s partner at ESPN in reporting league news.
“When we interviewed Adam Schefter, Chris Mortensen was his biggest promoter at ESPN,” John Walsh, a former editor-in-chief at ESPN, said in a telephone interview Monday. Mr. Mortensen did not see Mr. Schefter as his potential replacement or as a threat, Mr. Walsh added.
“Mort was the ultimate team player,” he said.
Mr. King recalled how he admired Mr. Mortensen’s prescient decision in the mid-1990s to attend the fledgling Manning Passing Academy, which was founded by Archie Manning, the former New Orleans Saints quarterback, before his sons Peyton and Eli went to the NFL. The camp is for young people from groups 8 to 12.
“Every great future college quarterback went there, and year after year Mort was right there on the ground floor,” Mr. King said. “Our job was to know all the quarterbacks and have them tell us things. Mort knew every quarterback since high school. He was very smart when it came to relationships.”
Mr. Mortensen and Mr. Schefter broke the news that Peyton Manning signed with the Denver Broncos in 2012 after 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. Four years later, at the beginning of his grueling, months-long cancer treatment, the hospitalized Mr. Mortensen received a call from Mr. Manning with the announcement that he was going to announce his retirement.
Writing for Sports illustrated in 2017Mr King, who himself retired last week, recounted the conversation between the player and the distressed journalist.
“Would you like to report it?” Mr. Manning asked.
“I think so,” Mr. Mortensen replied. “It would make me feel normal again.”
In 2016, Mr. Mortensen received the Dick McCann (now Bill Nun) Award from the Professional Football Writers of America for outstanding coverage of the game. He received the award during the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony.
One of his biggest stories turned out to be false. In early 2015, after the American Football Conference championship game between the Colts and the New England Patriots, he posted a tweet and an online article reported that the NFL was investigating the Patriots for underinflating 11 of 12 game balls by two pounds per square inch.
He later clarified in a follow-up report, saying the balls were only “significantly underinflated,” but not necessarily two pounds psi (an underinflated ball is an easier throw).
But Mr. Mortensen left the original tweet and online story uncorrected for six months, even afterward a league investigation showed that just one ball was underinflated by as much as two pounds psi (he stood by his claim that eleven balls were involved). He then deleted the tweet and article.
He later acknowledged that the deletions were a mistake.
Mr. Mortensen was widely criticized, some of it by Patriots fans, for his reporting in what became known as “Deflategate.” The league investigation led, among other things, to the 2015 suspension of New England quarterback Tom Brady for four regular-season games without pay for failing to fully cooperate with the investigation; a federal judge overturned the sentence.
Mr. Mortensen was less concerned about the criticism than about the death threats he received. ‘Even after I got cancer, I got some death wishes’ he told The Ringerthe sports and pop culture website and podcasting network, in 2016.
Christian Anthony Mortensen was born on November 7, 1951 in Torrance, California. He attended El Camino College, a two-year school, starting in 1969. That year he was hired to write about sports for The Daily Breeze, also in Torrance.
He remained there until 1983, when he moved to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he covered the Atlanta Braves and Falcons and the NFL more broadly.
In 1987, he won a George Polk Award, one of journalism’s top prizes, for a year of investigative reporting on a scandal involving cops in college sports. He was the first sportswriter to win a Polk since Red Smith received that honor in 1950.
Mr. Mortensen left the Journal-Constitution in 1989 to join The National Sports Daily, where he worked as a reporter and columnist for about two years before the publication filed for bankruptcy in 1991. In 1990, he also spent time as a reporter on the CBS Sports pregame show “The NFL Today” after Mr. McDonough left for NBC.
Mr. Mortensen joined ESPN in 1991, a time when the network was becoming increasingly dependent on NFL news and programming. He became one of ESPN’s top reporters, appearing on network broadcasts throughout the week with news nuggets that showed how deeply connected he was to team and league decision-makers.
Seth Markman, ESPN’s vice president and executive producer of the network’s NFL and college football coverage, said in an interview that Mr. Mortensen changed direction after returning to work after his cancer treatments.
“He focused on bigger things, the bigger picture, more context, more on why decisions were made,” Mr. Markman said. “He was still our conscience, and Adam and I leaned on him so much: Should we report this? Is this fair?”
Mr Markman added that Mr Mortensen sometimes had difficulty speaking on TV after his cancer diagnosis.
“He had trouble making saliva,” Mr Markman said. “He said, ‘You have to help me. If I get to the point where I’m incoherent, pull me away.” He never got to that point.”
But after last year’s NFL draft, Mr. Markman added, “he reached out.”
“He felt it was time to walk away.”
In addition to his son Alex, the offensive coordinator of the University of Alabama at Birmingham football team, Mr. Mortensen’s survivors include his wife, Micki Mortensen.