John Clayton, who was a senior writer and correspondent for ESPN, died on March 18, 2022. He was 67 years old. His loved ones were all around him as he took his last breath.
Since he was a teenager, the American sports writer has been interested in writing about sports. The NFL was the subject of his first book. In his early years, he worked for The Pittsburgh Press and The News Tribune.
He also won several awards, including the Dick McCann Memorial Award, which gave him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s writers’ section.
Because of Covid, ESPN’s John Clayton of the This Is Sportscenter Slayer ad died
John Clayton died at the age of 67. He was known for the This is Sportscenter Slayer commercial. Some of his fans thought that the Covid was the reason for his death. Also, it was written that an illness was the cause of death.
Around 20,000 people were getting sick from the pandemic at that time. But everyone knew that he was in a fight for his life. He was taken to a hospital in Seattle, so the story goes.
The Seattle Seahawks wrote on Twitter that he had died and that the team was very sad to hear about it. A lot of other NFL players and broadcasters also sent their condolences to his family.
Chris Mortensen also wrote about his death and told people that the sports journalist was with his family when he passed away. When he died, his wife Pat and his sister Amy were there with him.
In the press box at Lumen Field, where the Seahawks play, a tribute was paid to Fallen John after he had been dead for months.
The cause of John Clayton’s death was said to be illness
People on Reddit were interested in finding out what happened to John Clayton and how he died. Even though information about his death was already on the web, the cause of death turned out to be an illness that wasn’t specified.
So, most of his fans thought it was the Covid, since there were a lot of people in Seattle with the infection. Still, The Focus said that he was sick with multiple sclerosis, which is a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. The disease can make it hard to move, keep your balance, or feel things in your eyes, arm, or leg.
There were also rumors about his health because he had recently lost weight and was losing his hair. Some people thought he had cancer and that was what killed him.
Even though he worked in the media, he never told his fans much about his personal life or health.
What Did John Clayton Really Do?
John was a famous sports reporter who wrote about the NFL. He was working for ESPN. He hadn’t officially retired yet, so he kept working until he could. He was the most experienced writer in the company, and people liked his reports and articles the most.
But the news that his health was getting worse and that he might die soon scared his fans and loved ones. They never thought that something so bad could happen in such a short time. Not only was his death not mentioned, but neither was the reason for it.
Also, he has been working in the business since 1972, and he started out in radio. During his almost 50-year career, he worked hard to serve the community by giving them accurate and fair news.
Journalist John Clayton Bio
John Clayton is good at doing many things at once. He is a great composer, arranger, conductor, producer, teacher, and, yes, bassist. Because he is so good at so many things, he gets a lot of challenging jobs and commissions. He has won a Grammy and been nominated for eight more. Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Regina Carter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gladys Knight, Queen Latifah, and Charles Aznavour are among the artists who want to be on his busy schedule.
He started playing bass in strings class, junior orchestra, jazz band, orchestra, and soul/R&B groups when he was in elementary school. In 1969, when he was 16, he took a jazz class taught by bassist Ray Brown at UCLA. This was the start of a close friendship that would last for more than 30 years. After getting a degree in bass performance from Indiana University’s School of Music in 1975, he went on tour with the Monty Alexander Trio, the Count Basie Orchestra, and the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in Amsterdam, Netherlands (1980-85). From 1980 to 1983, he taught bass at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Holland.
In 1985, he moved back to California. In 1986, he helped start the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, brought back The Clayton Brothers quintet, and taught bass part-time at Cal State Long Beach, UCLA, and USC. He started teaching at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music in 1988 and stayed there until 2009. Now, John is in charge of the educational parts of the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Centrum Festival, and Vail Jazz Party, as well as private clinics, workshops, and students when his schedule allows.
Career highlights include arranging “Star Spangled Banner” for Whitney Houston’s performance at the Super Bowl in 1990 (the recording went platinum), playing bass on Paul McCartney’s CD “Kisses On The Bottom,” arranging and playing bass with Yo-Yo Ma and Friends on “Songs of Joy and Peace,” and arranging, playing, and conducting the 2009 CD “Charles Aznavour With the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra,” as well as many recordings with Diana Krall, the Clayton Brothers, the Clayton
John Clayton Early years
Clayton was born on May 11, 1954, in Braddock, Pennsylvania, which is just outside of Pittsburgh. He started writing about sports when he was in high school at Churchill Area. Starting in 1972, he wrote two stories a week for the Daily Press in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, about the Pittsburgh Steelers. After that, he wrote for Steel City Sports and did freelance work for AP Radio and CBS Radio. Clayton went to Duquesne University and got his degree in 1976.
John Clayton Career
After college, Clayton went to work for The Pittsburgh Press.
In May of 1978, he was sent to cover a minicamp for the Steelers. While he was there, he found that Steelers players were breaking the rules by wearing shoulder pads during minicamp and told the team about it. This would cost the team a third-round draft pick. Clayton called the whole thing “Shouldergate.” Because of his part in the situation, he was not welcome in his hometown for a while. [8][9]
Clayton worked his way up at the Press until he was the Steelers beat writer. He left the paper in 1986.
He moved across the country and now writes for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, about the Seattle Seahawks. At this time, he started to talk about the NFL on Nanci Donnellan’s show The Fabulous Sports Babe on the Seattle sports radio station KJR (AM). When ESPN bought Donnellan’s show and made it available to people all over the country, Clayton joined the show as an NFL correspondent.
Prizes and awards John Clayton
In 2007, the Pro Football Writers of America gave Clayton the Dick McCann Memorial Award in honor of his long and important work covering professional football. He is now in the “writer’s wing” of the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of this.
Clayton’s alma mater, Duquesne University, also put him in its sports hall of fame in 2001.
In his honor, the town of Braddock made March 18, 2018, “John Clayton Day.”
John Clayton Personal life
Clayton was married to Pat until the day he died. They met when she was writing about bowling for The News Tribune. He died on March 18, 2022, at the age of 67, in a hospital in Bellevue, Washington, of a short illness that was not clear.
Family and Schools
around 1620, first son of John Clayton of Oakenshaw, recorder of Leeds from 1626 to 1661, by his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Gerard Fitwilliam of Bentley. educ. Clare, Camb. 1638; I. Temple 1639, called 1648. married on March 20, 1674, when he was 48, to Thomasine, daughter of Sir Samuel Owfield, fishmonger, of Covent Garden, Westminster, and Upper Gatton, Surrey
Wife of John Clayton
The 65-year-old man is already married. He got married to Patrica Clayton, who he loved very much. Together, they have a son whose name is Gerald Clayton. He has never been involved in a scandal, either in his personal life or in his work life. Patricia Clayton worked as a temporary employee at the elections headquarters in Renton for four years. When her bosses told her Monday that she was no longer needed, she was surprised. “They said there was a complaint—that one of my coworkers said I was a bother because I asked them to help me,” Clayton said.
John Clayton’s Wealth
John Clayton has a good amount of money thanks to his work as a journalist. John got $4 million a year from the NFL for working with them. After that, he went to ESPN, where he made $2 million more. As of 2019, he is thought to be worth $9 million.