John Clayton, Veteran N.F.L. Reporter Who Worked at ESPN, Dies at 67

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 recreation recaps for ESPN, died on Friday. He was 67.

Mr. Clayton died at Overlake Medical Heart in Bellevue, Wash., mentioned Mike Sando, a senior author for The Athletic who was a pal of Mr. Clayton’s for many years.

Mr. Clayton died “after a battle with a short sickness,” in line with a press release from the Seattle Seahawks, who confirmed his loss of life. He labored within the ultimate a part of his profession as a sideline reporter for the crew’s radio community.

His journalism profession spanned 5 a long time, taking him from the print pages of The Pittsburgh Press, the place he lined the Steelers within the Nineteen Seventies as a young person, to the studios of ESPN, the place he turned a fixture on the community’s reveals 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 reasonably than any flashy, attention-getting model throughout his on-air appearances.

“He introduced an even-handedness and a equity and a voice of purpose to reviews at a time when the sort of bombastic debate reveals and fewer substantive, extra entertaining types of programming had been gaining popularity,” Mr. Sando mentioned.

Mr. Clayton typically joked that he “didn’t seem like a TV man,” Mr. Sando mentioned, and instructed his pals 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 instructed The New York Instances in 2013, “I imply, you might be what you might be.”

All through the a long time, 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 masking the Steelers after they had been on the precipice of turning into a championship dynasty within the Nineteen Seventies.

He would go into the locker room, interview gamers and coaches after which return residence, forgoing the beer that his colleagues would get pleasure from 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 apply — a revelation that he referred to as Shouldergate and which resulted within the crew’s dropping 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 lined bowling.

At The Information Tribune, he pioneered methods of masking the N.F.L., similar to sustaining spreadsheets that tracked each participant’s wage after the league launched wage caps in 1994; calling all 32 groups each Friday to seek out out who had not attended apply; and contacting each stadium on recreation days to study who the inactive gamers could be.

“John pioneered the granular manner through which the league is roofed at the moment,” Mr. Sando mentioned.

Along with his spouse, Mr. Clayton is survived his sister, Amy.

His obsession with soccer started as a toddler. John Clayton was born on Might 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.

“After all you’ll be able to see my physique — you’ll be able to see I didn’t have the power to compete on the soccer discipline,” he instructed USA Soccer in 2013. “It simply wasn’t there. However I liked 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 reveals 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 out to be a memorable “That is ‘SportsCenter’” industrial.

Within the advert for ESPN, an anchor says: “It’s laborious to seek out an professional extra devoted than John Clayton. He’s the consummate professional.”

The scene reveals Mr. Clayton delivering his evaluation on the air in a swimsuit jacket and a tie and cuts away to disclose that he’s carrying simply the higher parts of each. He pulls the clothes off to disclose that he’s carrying a sleeveless T-shirt with the title of the thrash metallic band Slayer.

Then, he stands up in his room, which is plastered with posters, and lets unfastened a hidden ponytail.

He jumps on a mattress, yelling: “Hey, mother! I’m performed with my phase!” He then eats noodles from a takeout container.

The advert was successful. Mr. Clayton, nonetheless, had been hesitant to do the industrial, mentioned Dave Pearson, the chief communications officer for the Seattle Seahawks.

Mr. Clayton instructed Mr. Pearson and Mr. Sando that he had constructed his status on severe reporting and didn’t wish to tarnish that by showing in a foolish advert.

“Are they going to giggle at me?” Mr. Sando recalled his pal’s asking.

After the advert aired, nonetheless, it gave Mr. Clayton “a brand new degree of superstar that was completely surprising,” and he cherished that, Mr. Sando mentioned.

Mr. Clayton’s profession at ESPN led to 2017 when he was certainly one of a number of staff who had been laid off by the community, in line with The Sporting Information.

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 Put up-Gazette in 2018 how lengthy he deliberate to work, Mr. Clayton replied: “Till they plant me, I assume. I really like these things.”

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 lined, Mr. Bouchette mentioned.

“She was in a wheelchair, and John would take her round in all places,” he mentioned. “It was sort of touching, I believed.”

In 2007, he acquired the Invoice Nunn Memorial Award, one of many highest honors for soccer reporters.