John Saunders, GTA-born sports journalist, dead at 61

John Saunders has died at the age of 61.

ESPN, where he had worked for nearly 30 years, was the first to report the news. There, he “hosted studio and play-by-play programming. He covered college football, basketball and the NHL for the network, in addition to anchoring SportsCenter. He was also host of The Sports Reporter,” the station said in a statement.

Saunders was also a familiar face back home in Canada. Born in Ajax, he was a sports journalist for City at CityPulse between 1980 and 1982.

“If you are very lucky in your life, you will have people you can honestly call friends,” former CityNews host Gord Martineau said.

“There won’t be a lot of them because real friends are rare. John Saunders was not only my colleague at City, he was my friend. Rest in peace John.”

Saunders was a college athlete who received a hockey scholarship to Western Michigan. He later played for Ryerson University, and was part of the Ontario University Athletic Association All-Star team.

Saunders then moved to the other side of the camera, with stints in radio and television before jointing City in 1980. He moved to local TV in Baltimore before joining ESPN in 1986.

Away from work, he was an advocate for diabetes research and cancer research. It’s not known how he died.

Saunders is survived by his wife Wanda, and daughters Aleah and Jenna, ESPN said.