There is some sad news to report this holiday season as ESPN SEC reporter Ed Aschoff passed away on his 34th birthday after a nearly month long battle with pneumonia. Lake City Reporter staff writer Zach Abolverdi broke the news while paying tribute to his mentor.
Aschoff graduated from the University of Florida with a journalism degree in 2008. Right after college, Aschoff remained close to Gainesville covering Gators football, basketball, and baseball for The Gainesville Sun. In 2011, Aschoff was hired by ESPN to cover SEC football on their SEC blog.
Aschoff revealed on Instagram that he came down with pneumonia while covering last month’s Ohio State-Michigan game and posted on Twitter that he had a virus two weeks before that and turned into multifocal pneumonia.
Tributes poured in from those within the college football community after hearing the horrible news.
This is absolutely devastating news. Praying for Ed’s family. I can’t believe this. https://t.co/Cr3q9v1igE
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 25, 2019
Crushing. So young, so nice. Today was his birthday. Profoundly sad news. https://t.co/2y3k8kgymg
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) December 25, 2019
Stunned and devastated. Incomprehensible, really. Ed was a tremendous guy, this is such a tragedy. https://t.co/nrUtpMJNpX
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) December 25, 2019
don’t know what to say. just letting you know. damn. https://t.co/uGO3ThlKHL
— bomani (@bomani_jones) December 25, 2019
Just a terribly sad story. Ed was well respected and was making a name for himself in the industry and to pass away on his birthday right before Christmas is even sadder. He will be missed.
UPDATE: ESPN posted a statement about Aschoff’s passing and announced his passing during the Hawaii Bowl as well as SportsCenter.
Sportscenter mention of Aschoff’s passing after the Hawaii Bowl. A fade to black followed before going into commercial. Imagine ESPN may produce a segment for future use at some point pic.twitter.com/ATGQc8ABbd
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 25, 2019
[Photo: @ZachAbolverdi]