Chris Mortensen, an award-winning sportswriter who pioneered the function of the N.F.L. insider, reporting omnivorously for varied ESPN applications on trades, the draft, free-agent signings, accidents, retirements and scandals, died on Sunday in Birmingham, Ala. He was 72.
His loss of life, on the house of his son, Alex, was introduced by ESPN, which didn’t give a trigger. In 2016, Mr. Mortensen underwent remedy for Stage 4 throat most cancers. He lived in Bella Vista, Ark., within the northwest nook of the state.
Till he stepped away from the community final yr, Mort, as he was recognized, allotted information on applications like “SportsCenter,” “Sunday N.F.L. Countdown” and “Monday N.F.L. Countdown,” in addition to on ESPN Radio.
He was not sports activities journalism’s first N.F.L. insider. Will McDonough most likely had that distinction, writing authoritatively for The Boston Globe and showing on N.F.L. pregame exhibits on CBS and NBC. Mr. Mortensen was adopted by a raft of rivals together with Peter King, at Sports activities Illustrated after which NBC; Jay Glazer, at Fox Sports activities; Mike Florio, at Professional Soccer Speak; and Adam Schefter, on the NFL Community.
In 2009, Mr. Schefter turned Mr. Mortensen’s accomplice at ESPN in reporting league information.
“Once we had been interviewing Adam Schefter, his largest promoter at ESPN was Chris Mortensen,” John Walsh, a former govt editor at ESPN, mentioned in a cellphone interview on Monday. Mr. Mortensen didn’t see Mr. Schefter as his potential substitute or as a menace, Mr. Walsh added.
“Mort was the quintessential group participant,” he mentioned.
Mr. King recalled how he admired Mr. Mortensen’s prescient determination within the mid-Nineties to go to the fledgling Manning Passing Academy, which was began by Archie Manning, the previous New Orleans Saints quarterback, earlier than his sons Peyton and Eli entered the N.F.L. The summer season camp is for teenagers from eighth to twelfth grades.
“Each nice future faculty quarterback went there, and yr after yr Mort was there on the bottom ground,” Mr. King mentioned. “Our job was to know all of the quarterbacks and get them to inform us issues. Mort knew each quarterback from highschool on. He was very sensible about relationships.”
Mr. Mortensen and Mr. Schefter broke the information that Peyton Manning was signing with the Denver Broncos in 2012 after 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. 4 years later, early in his grueling monthslong most cancers remedy, a hospitalized Mr. Mortensen obtained a name from Mr. Manning saying that he was going to announce his retirement.
Writing for Sports activities Illustrated in 2017, Mr. King, who himself retired final week, recounted the dialog between the participant and the ailing journalist.
“Do you wish to report it?” Mr. Manning requested.
“I believe I might,” Mr. Mortensen replied. “It’d make me really feel regular once more.”
In 2016, Mr. Mortensen obtained the Dick McCann (now Invoice Nunn) Award from the Skilled Soccer Writers of America for distinguished protection of the sport. He obtained the award on the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame enshrinement ceremony.
Considered one of his largest tales turned out to be faulty. In early 2015, after the American Soccer Convention championship recreation between the Colts and New England Patriots, he posted a tweet and a web-based article reporting that the N.F.L. was investigating the Patriots for underinflating 11 of the 12 recreation balls by two kilos per sq. inch.
He later clarified in a follow-up report by saying that the balls had been merely “considerably underinflated” however not essentially by two kilos p.s.i. (An underinflated ball is a better throw.)
However Mr. Mortensen left the unique tweet and on-line story uncorrected for six months, even after a league investigation confirmed that just one ball had been underinflated by as a lot as two kilos p.s.i. (He caught along with his declare that 11 balls had been concerned.) Then he deleted the tweet and the article.
He later acknowledged that the deletions had been a mistake.
Mr. Mortensen obtained a whole lot of criticism, a few of it from Patriots followers, for his reporting in what got here to be generally known as “Deflategate.” The league investigation led to, amongst different issues, the suspension in 2015 of New England’s quarterback, Tom Brady, for 4 regular-season video games with out pay for not absolutely cooperating with the probe; a federal choose reversed the penalty.
Mr. Mortensen was much less involved concerning the criticism than he was concerning the loss of life threats he obtained. “Even after I obtained most cancers, I obtained some loss of life needs,” he advised The Ringer, the sports activities and popular culture web site and podcasting community, in 2016.
Christian Anthony Mortensen was born on Nov. 7, 1951, in Torrance, Calif. He attended El Camino School, a two-year college, beginning in 1969. Throughout that yr he was employed to jot down about sports activities for The Every day Breeze, additionally in Torrance.
He stayed there till 1983, when he moved to The Atlanta Journal-Structure, the place he lined the Atlanta Braves and Falcons and the N.F.L. extra broadly.
In 1987, he received a George Polk Award, one in every of journalism’s high prizes, for a yr of investigative reporting on a scandal involving brokers in faculty sports activities. He was the primary sportswriter to win a Polk since Pink Smith obtained that honor in 1950.
Mr. Mortensen left the Journal-Structure in 1989 to affix The Nationwide Sports activities Every day, the place he labored for about two years as a reporter and a columnist earlier than the publication went out of enterprise in 1991. He additionally frolicked in 1990 as a reporter on the CBS Sports activities pregame present “The N.F.L. Right now” after Mr. McDonough left for NBC.
Mr. Mortensen joined ESPN in 1991, a time when the community was changing into more and more reliant on N.F.L. information and programming. He turned one in every of ESPN’s signature reporters, exhibiting up on community broadcasts all through the week with nuggets of stories that confirmed how deeply he was wired into group and league determination makers.
Seth Markman, ESPN’s vp and govt producer of the community’s N.F.L. and faculty soccer protection, mentioned in an interview that Mr. Mortensen modified course after returning to work from his most cancers remedies.
“He targeted on larger issues, the larger image, extra context, extra about why selections had been made,” Mr. Markman mentioned. “He was nonetheless very a lot our conscience, and Adam and I leaned on him a lot: Ought to we report this? Is that this truthful?”
Mr. Markman added that Mr. Mortensen generally had issue talking on TV after his most cancers analysis.
“He struggled making saliva,” Mr. Markman mentioned. “He mentioned, ‘It’s important to assist me. If I get to the purpose the place I’m being incoherent, pull me off.’ He by no means obtained to that time.”
However after the N.F.L. draft final yr, Mr. Markman added, “he reached out.”
“He thought it was time to stroll away.”
Along with his son, Alex, the offensive coordinator of the soccer group on the College of Alabama at Birmingham, Mr. Mortensen’s survivors embrace his spouse, Micki Mortensen.
