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ESPN reporter Edward Aschoff dies of pneumonia on 34th birthday

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 01: ESPN tv camera before the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Oklahoma Sooners on January 1, 2018, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. (Photo by Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Edward Aschoff was 34. (Photo by Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

ESPN college football reporter Edward Aschoff died Tuesday after an extended battle with pneumonia, the company announced on Twitter. It was his 34th birthday.

Lake City Reporter’s Zach Abolverdi, who called Aschoff a friend and mentor, initially broke the news.

According to ESPN, Aschoff began working for the company in 2011 as an SEC reporter based in Atlanta and moved to Los Angeles in 2017 to take on a national role that included television work. The Oxford, Miss. native graduated from the University of Florida in 2008 and worked as a recruiting reporter for The Gainesville Sun before joining ESPN.

Aschoff had posted earlier in the month that he contracted the pneumonia while working the Ohio State-Michigan game at the end of the college football regular season. He also tweeted that he had a virus for two weeks prior, which later turned into multifocal pneumonia.

The news of Aschoff’s death led to a torrent of tributes from the college football and ESPN community, as well as condolences to his family and fiancee, Katy. They were reportedly scheduled to marry in New Orleans in April.

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