- John Clayton, whose connections in the NFL were equaled only by his attention to detail and passion to his trade, died Friday in Washington after a short illness, according to his family.
- He was 67 years old.
- Clayton, dubbed “The Professor,” was one of the country’s preeminent NFL analysts over a five-decade career that encompassed more than two decades at ESPN. Clayton was so zealous in his quest of news and information that, as ESPN’s Chris Mortensen put it, “Anyone who paid attention went away a bit wiser.”
- “Long before he became an ESPN star, John may have been the finest team beat writer of his age, the sort who could sit on a storey for months and then break it before anybody else knew what was happening,” according to Mike Sando of The Athletic, a longtime friend of Clayton’s. “He was really exceptional. On a personal level, John was very gracious to me when I replaced him as the Tacoma News Tribune’s Seahawks beat writer many years ago. I owe so lot to John and will severely miss him.”
- Clayton, a native of Braddock, Pennsylvania, started his career covering the Pittsburgh Steelers as a youngster in 1972, during a season that featured the “”An Immaculate Receipt.” He subsequently attended Duquesne University and was employed as a senior by the Pittsburgh Press. He maintained his work until only a few days ago, when he deconstructed the Seattle Seahawks’ blockbuster trade of Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos for Seattle Sports 710 AM, where he was a frequent contributor.
- “@JohnClayton, we shall all miss your words and talent.
- NFL #RestInPeaceJohnClayton “Wilson said in a tweet Friday night, as he and former colleagues and friends of Clayton paid tribute to Clayton on social media.
- “The Seahawks are devastated to learn of John Clayton’s loss,” the team said in a statement. Clayton was dubbed “a Pittsburgh media legend” by the Steelers.
- “Numerous NFL executives and coaches I’ve spoken with have expressed an overwhelming feeling of admiration and a sense of profound grief and astonishment,” Mortensen added.
- Clayton spent more than a decade at the Tacoma (Wash.) News Tribune before joining ESPN for more than two decades. Clayton has also written for many publications, including the Washington Post, in recent years after his lengthy tenure at ESPN, and spent five seasons as a sideline reporter for the Seahawks radio network. Since February of last year, he has also provided articles to Denver’s KKFN-FM (104.3 FM).
- “John was a pioneer as an NFL insider, but he was also one of the nicest individuals I’ve ever worked with,” said Seth Markman, vice president and executive producer at ESPN. “He literally never declined an invitation to appear on a programme that requested him — from 6 a.m. until midnight, if you asked for the Professor, he was there. I’ll also recall how much he loved and looked after his loving wife Pat throughout her fight with multiple sclerosis. We shall all truly miss John.”
- Clayton was a 2007 recipient of the profession’s top prize, which is now known as the Bill Nunn Memorial Award. The Pro Football Writers of America bestow this award yearly in honour of “long and outstanding career in the area of professional football reporting.”
- “It is the finest distinction a sportswriter can earn,” Clayton said at the time.
- “The PFWA expresses its condolences on John Clayton’s loss,” the group stated in a statement. “John served as the PFWA’s nineteenth president (1999–2000) and was the 2007 Bill Nunn Jr. Award winner. ‘The Professor’ was a familiar face in our industry. Our sympathies go out to his wife Pat, family, coworkers, and many friends.”
- Clayton was also a long-serving member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Board of Selectors.
- In 1995, ESPN hired Clayton as a jack-of-all-trades to cover the NFL. The makers of SportsCenter established a weekly feature titled “Clayton will face NFL analyst and former quarterback Sean Salisbury in “Four Downs.” It quickly became a must-see television show.
- As did his participation on ESPN’s “This is SportsCenter” advertisements, which remain among the greatest of the popular segments to this day. Clayton’s performance featured a section in which he dressed like he would for SportsCenter, complete with a coat and tie, before ripping them off to expose a Slayer T-shirt, letting his long hair down, leaping into a bed, and shouting, “I’m through with my segment, mum.”
- From those early years, his passion for football remained unwavering.
- “Until they plant me,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2018 when asked how long he planned to continue following the NFL. “I adore this material. What I love about it is that there is so much more information available today that we didn’t have access to years ago — salary information, NFL Game Rewind, which allows you to view coaches’ footage. There is an incredible amount of knowledge and analytical material.”
- Clayton’s wife, Pat, and sister, Amy, survive him.
