John Clayton, the veteran N.F.L. reporter who was nicknamed the Professor and who was famous for his detailed insights about groups, his soccer evaluation and his concise sport recaps for ESPN, died on Friday at a hospital in Bellevue, Wash. He was 67.
He died “after a battle with a short sickness,” in line with a press release from the Seattle Seahawks, who confirmed his demise. He labored within the closing a part of his profession as a sideline reporter for the crew’s radio community.
Mr. Clayton’s journalism profession spanned 5 many years, taking him from the print pages of The Pittsburgh Press, the place he coated the Steelers within the Seventies as an adolescent, to the studios of ESPN, the place he grew to become a fixture on the community’s exhibits and an icon of N.F.L. reporting.
Mr. Clayton, who sported rimless glasses and who had a crisp supply, was recognized for his substantive reporting slightly than any flashy, attention-getting fashion throughout his on-air appearances.
“He introduced an even-handedness and a equity and a voice of motive to reviews at a time when the form of bombastic debate exhibits and fewer substantive, extra entertaining types of programming had been rising in popularity,” mentioned Mike Sando, a senior author for The Athletic who was mates with Mr. Clayton for many years.
Mr. Clayton typically joked that he “didn’t appear like a TV man,” Mr. Sando mentioned, and informed his mates that, in distinction to his extra dashing tv colleagues, he had saved the identical haircut for greater than 40 years.
Of his look, Mr. Clayton informed The New York Instances in 2013, “I imply, you might be what you might be.”
All through the many years, his love for the game and for reporting was apparent, his colleagues mentioned. When he was 17, he acquired a job with The Pittsburgh Press protecting the Steelers after they had been on the precipice of changing into a championship dynasty within the Seventies.
He would go into the locker room, interview gamers and coaches after which return dwelling, forgoing the beer that his colleagues would take pleasure in afterward within the press field.
In 1978, he wrote an article in regards to the Steelers’ violating N.F.L. guidelines when their gamers used shoulder pads throughout a minicamp follow — a revelation that he known as Shouldergate and which resulted within the crew’s shedding a third-round draft choose.
Mr. Clayton left The Press in 1986 for The Information Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., the place he met his spouse, Pat, a sports activities reporter who coated bowling.
At The Information Tribune, he pioneered methods of protecting the N.F.L., corresponding to sustaining spreadsheets that tracked each participant’s wage after the league launched wage caps in 1994; calling all 32 groups each Friday to search out out who had not attended follow; and contacting each stadium on sport days to study who the inactive gamers can be.
“John pioneered the granular manner by which the league is roofed in the present day,” Mr. Sando mentioned.
Along with his spouse, Mr. Clayton is survived his sister, Amy.
His obsession with soccer started as a baby. John Clayton was born on Could 11, 1954, in Braddock, Pa., about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. His mom took him to Steelers video games, a pastime that solely intensified his adoration for the sport.
“In fact you’ll be able to see my physique — you’ll be able to see I didn’t have the flexibility to compete on the soccer area,” he told USA Football in 2013. “It simply wasn’t there. However I cherished the sport a lot.”
He graduated from Duquesne College in Pittsburgh in 1976 and launched into his journalism profession.
In 1995, he joined ESPN. There, Mr. Clayton’s reporting prominence grew as he starred in weekly radio exhibits and hosted the “4 Downs” phase with Sean Salisbury, a former N.F.L. quarterback.
However his tv stardom was not solidified till his look in what would turn into a memorable “That is ‘SportsCenter’” commercial.
Within the advert for ESPN, an anchor says: “It’s laborious to search out an skilled extra devoted than John Clayton. He’s the consummate professional.”
The scene exhibits Mr. Clayton delivering his evaluation on the air in a go well with jacket and a tie and cuts away to disclose that he’s sporting simply the higher parts of each. He pulls the clothes off to disclose that he’s sporting a sleeveless T-shirt with the title of the thrash steel band Slayer.
Then, he stands up in his room, which is plastered with posters, and lets free a hidden ponytail.
He jumps on a mattress, yelling: “Hey, mother! I’m executed with my phase!” He then eats noodles from a takeout container.
The advert was a hit. Mr. Clayton, nonetheless, had been hesitant to do the business, mentioned Dave Pearson, the chief communications officer for the Seattle Seahawks.
Mr. Clayton informed Mr. Pearson and Mr. Sando that he had constructed his popularity on severe reporting and didn’t need to tarnish that by showing in a foolish advert.
“Are they going to snort at me?” Mr. Sando recalled Mr. Clayton asking.
After the advert aired, nonetheless, it gave Mr. Clayton “a brand new stage of movie star that was completely surprising,” and he cherished that, Mr. Sando mentioned.
Mr. Clayton’s profession at ESPN led to 2017 when he was one among a number of staff who had been laid off by the community, in line with The Sporting News.
He joined the radio station Seattle Sports activities 710 and labored for 5 seasons as a sideline reporter for the Seattle Seahawks Radio Community. This month, Mr. Clayton was reporting on Russell Wilson’s anticipated commerce to Denver.
When requested by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2018 how lengthy he deliberate to work, Mr. Clayton replied: “Till they plant me, I suppose. I like these items.”
Ed Bouchette, a former sports activities reporter for The Put up-Gazette who’s now a senior author with The Athletic, mentioned Mr. Clayton had been much more dedicated to his spouse, who has a number of sclerosis. He had an elevator constructed for her of their home and took her to Tremendous Bowl video games that he coated, Mr. Bouchette mentioned.
“She was in a wheelchair, and John would take her round in all places,” he mentioned. “It was form of touching, I assumed.”
In 2007, he obtained the Bill Nunn Memorial Award, one of many highest honors for soccer reporters.
