Sunday was a sad day around the NFL world. Shortly after 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, ESPN revealed the unfortunate news that the legendary Chris “Mort” Mortensen had passed away at the age of 72.
While Mort’s colleague, Adam Schefter, is known as the NFL’s premier news-breaker, that title belonged to Mortensen years before Schefter’s emergence. Originally a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution covering the Braves and Falcons, Mortensen won several awards for his reporting.
In 1989, he was hired to cover the NFL at The National for two seasons. It was in 1991 that he would receive his big break at ESPN. For 32 years, Mort broke massive NFL stories for ESPN until he retired after the 2023 NFL draft.
It was in 2016 that Mortensen fought a courageous battle against throat cancer.
Mortensen is survived by his wife, Mikki, and son, Alex. Alex, a former college quarterback, is the current offensive coordinator at UAB under former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer.
After his death, tributes from around the NFL poured in honoring Mortensen.