{"id":105552,"date":"2016-08-10T11:09:11","date_gmt":"2016-08-10T16:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=105552"},"modified":"2016-08-10T13:25:03","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T18:25:03","slug":"espns-john-saunders-passes-unexpectedly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=105552","title":{"rendered":"ESPN&#8217;s John Saunders passes unexpectedly"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_105554\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-105554\" class=\"size-full wp-image-105554\" src=\"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/SaundersJohn.jpg\" alt=\"Windsor Locks, CT - August 9, 2006 - Mike Patrick\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/SaundersJohn.jpg 250w, https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/SaundersJohn-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/SaundersJohn-175x175.jpg 175w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-105554\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Windsor Locks, CT &#8211; August 9, 2006 &#8211; Mike Patrick<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\".n6k1hzl1vy.$0.0.0.1.2.0.2.0.0.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas-Proxy.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$1\">Longtime ESPN host\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tvline.com\/tag\/john-saunders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">John Saunders<\/a> has died unexpectedly, the network <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/espn\/story\/_\/id\/17263104\/john-saunders-long-familiar-air-face-espn-nearly-30-years-died-age-61?ex_cid=espntw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">confirmed<\/a> on Tuesday. He was 61.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\".n6k1hzl1vy.$0.0.0.1.2.0.2.0.0.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas-Proxy.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$2\">\u201cJohn was an extraordinary talent and his friendly, informative style has been a warm welcome to sports fans for decades,\u201d said John Skipper, president of ESPN and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks, in a statement. \u201cHis wide range of accomplishments across numerous sports and championship events is among the most impressive this industry has ever seen. More importantly, John was a beloved and devoted family man who cared deeply about people and causes, as evidenced by his long-standing efforts as a passionate board member for The V Foundation for Cancer Research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\".n6k1hzl1vy.$0.0.0.1.2.0.2.0.0.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas-Proxy.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$3\">\u201cHe was one of the most significant and influential members of the ESPN family, as a colleague and mentor, and he will be sorely missed,\u201d Skipper continued. \u201cOur thoughts are with his loved ones at this extremely difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\".n6k1hzl1vy.$0.0.0.1.2.0.2.0.0.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas-Proxy.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$4\">Saunders joined ESPN in December 1986 as a\u00a0<em>SportsCenter<\/em> anchor. His primary play-by-play beats included college football, basketball and the NH. He was also host of <em>The Sports Reporters<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\".n6k1hzl1vy.$0.0.0.1.2.0.2.0.0.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas-Proxy.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$5\">Saunders\u2019 colleague Chris Mortensen expressed his sorrow on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mortreport\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a> early Wednesday, writing, \u201cThe news of John Saunders\u2019 death could not be more crushing. We all loved him dearly. We grieve. We will miss him. Can\u2019t replace the man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm canvas-atom\" data-type=\"text\" data-reactid=\".n6k1hzl1vy.$0.0.0.1.2.0.2.0.0.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas-Proxy.$Col1-0-ContentCanvas.0.4.0:$6\">ESPN\u2019s Adam Scheffer, meanwhile, said he was \u201csickened and saddened\u201d by the news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Longtime ESPN host\u00a0John Saunders has died unexpectedly, the network confirmed on Tuesday. He was 61. \u201cJohn was an extraordinary talent and his friendly, informative style has been a warm welcome to sports fans for decades,\u201d said John Skipper, president of ESPN and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks, in a statement. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":105561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105555,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105552\/revisions\/105555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/105561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}