Christian Anthony Mortensen (November 7, 1951 – March 3, 2024), known to friends as "Mort", was an American journalist regarded as a pioneer working year-round reporting news of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Mortensen was best known for his work at the cable television network

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, frequently contributing to the network's award-winning

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

shows such as '' NFL GameDay'', '' Sunday NFL Countdown'', and ''

Monday Night Countdown ''Monday Night Countdown'' (officially ''Monday Night Countdown presented by ESPN Bet'') is an American Pre-game show, pregame television program that is broadcast on ESPN, preceding its coverage of ''Monday Night Football''. For the network's non ...

'', as well as the network's ''

Outside the Lines ''Outside the Lines'' is an American sports news and analysis program that was broadcast by ESPN from 1990 to 2022. The series featured segments with discussions and investigative journalism surrounding prominent headlines and topics within spor ...

'' series. He was also a frequent contributor to the network's ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

'',

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

, and ESPN.com packages.

Early life

Chris Mortensen was born November 7, 1951, in

Torrance, California Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...

, Mortensen attended North Torrance High School in

, and El Camino College before serving two years in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

Career

Mortensen started his career with the ''

South Bay Daily Breeze The ''Daily Breeze'' is a 57,000-circulation daily newspaper published in Hermosa Beach, California, United States. It serves the South Bay cities of Los Angeles County. Its slogan is "LAX to LA Harbor". Early history The paper was founde ...

'' in 1969. He received 18 awards in journalism. In 1978, he won the National Headliner Award for Investigative Reporting. In 2016, he received the Dick McCann Award from the Pro Football Writers of America and was honored by the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...

during its enshrinement ceremony in August 2016. Beginning in 1985, he covered every Super Bowl except for

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) ...

, which he did not cover after being diagnosed with stage IV

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

''Atlanta Journal-Constitution''

From 1983 to 1990, Mortensen worked at the ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'', filing investigative reports and covering the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

(1983–85),

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

(1985–86) and the

(NFL) (1987–89). In 1987, he was given the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for his reporting.

''The National''

He once covered the NFL for '' The National'' (1989–90), where he was one of the first writers hired by editor Frank Deford.

ESPN

Mortensen first appeared on

in 1991.Lauren Campbell
"Chris Mortensen, Longtime ESPN Reporter, Dies at 72,"
Masslive.com, March 3, 2024. He was the first "insider" hired by ESPN. He soon gained recognition as a pioneer of "insider" reporting of the National Football League on national television, breaking some of the biggest news, such as

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...

's retirement. During his career, Mortensen reported for the network's

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

–winning programs '' NFL GameDay'', '' NFL Countdown'', and the network's shows ''

'' and ''

''. He worked as an analyst for ESPN's coverage of the

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

and changed how ESPN covered the draft. Mortensen left the network in April 2023 following the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 NFL season, 2023 season. The NFL draft, draft was held outside of Kansas City Union Station, Union Station i ...

due to health problems related to

Deflategate controversy

On January 21, 2015, Mortensen reported erroneously that 11 of the 12 footballs used in the AFC Championship Game on January 18, 2015, between the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

and the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

were 2

pounds per square inch The pound per square inch (abbreviation: psi) or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch (symbol: lbf/in2), is a unit of measurement of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units and used primarily in the United States. It is the pre ...

(PSI; 13.8 kPa) under NFL regulation.Chris Mortensen
"11 of 12 Pats footballs underinflated"
ESPN, January 21, 2015; retrieved August 2, 2015. The Wells Report findings showed that only 1 of 22 readings (with each ball tested twice with different gauges except the intercepted ball) showed to be under by 2 PSI. The rest ranged from 1.8 to 0.2 PSI (12.4 to 1.4 kPa) below. Despite being debunked in the Wells report, Mortensen's original story remained posted on ESPN as late as August 13, 2015, with no retraction, clarification or apology. Mortensen was to appear on WEEI's '' Dennis and Callahan'' radio show on July 31, 2015, but cancelled. According to WEEI, Mortensen stated he "will not allow WEEI, atriots owner Robert

Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

or anybody to make me the centerpiece of a story that has been misreported far beyond anything I did in the first 48 hours."

Other work

Mortensen was the author of the 1991 book ''Playing for Keeps: How One Man Kept the Mob from Sinking Its Hooks into Pro Football''. In 1999, he made a film called ''The Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling''.

Personal life and death

Mortensen was married to Micki Mortensen. Their son, Alex Mortensen, is a coach and former professional quarterback. Chris Mortensen was a Christian, and lived in Bella Vista, Arkansas. On January 15, 2016, Mortensen announced via an ESPN statement that he had been diagnosed with stage IV throat cancer and would consequently be taking a leave of absence from his on-air work at the cable network. Mortensen survived eight years past the diagnosis, and died at his son's home in

Irondale, Alabama Irondale is a city in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is a suburb of Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West ...

, on March 3, 2024, at the age of 72.

References

External links

* Rich Eisen
"A Beautiful Soul"
''The Rich Eisen Show'', via

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, March 4, 2024. (Video.) * Dan Patrick
"Chris Mortensen Was Integral in Making NFL 'Year-Round
''The Dan Patrick Show'', via YouTube, March 4, 2024. (Video.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mortensen, Chris 1951 births 2024 deaths 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American reporters and correspondents American sports radio personalities Bill Nunn Memorial Award recipients Deaths from cancer in Alabama Deaths from throat cancer in the United States ESPN people Military personnel from California NFL announcers People from Benton County, Arkansas People from Torrance, California Sportswriters from California United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War El Camino College alumni