Eagles Mourn Loss of Friend, Superfan Tim Russert
June 14, 2008 | Boston College Athletics
June 14, 2008
The Boston College Athletics family is mourning the loss of friend and Superfan Tim Russert, who died suddenly Friday of a heart attack at age 58.
"We were absolutely shocked and heartbroken when we heard the news Friday afternoon," Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo said. "Tim wore his love for the Eagles on his sleeve, both literally and figuratively. He was universally respected as a journalist, but he was an even greater husband, father and friend. We're going to miss him tremendously."
Russert, who was best known as NBC's Washington bureau chief and moderator of Meet the Press, had become an ardent BC sports fan when his son, Luke, enrolled as a freshman in 2004. Tim, Maureen and Luke Russert had been vacationing in Italy, in fact, to celebrate Luke's recent graduation from BC before Tim flew back to prepare for this Sunday's Meet the Press.
In recent years, Russert attended as many BC basketball games as his schedule would allow. Seated courtside shoulder-to-shoulder with local celebrities and sports dignitaries, Russert's modesty and unpretentious manner endeared him to BC students and fans young and old. Although he was arguably the most influential electronic journalist of his time, at BC he was just Tim, Luke's father, Superfan.
In 2006, Russert participated in a student-produced video titled "Meet the Full-Court Press," along with son Luke and several members of the BC basketball team. When the tongue-in-cheek production was played on the Conte Forum video screens prior to the Eagles' nationally televised game against Duke, members of both teams paused their pregame warm-up routine to watch and laugh.
Russert later traveled to Minneapolis to watch the Eagles in the NCAA basketball regional and, according to members of the travel party, was the first person they saw, cheering them on, when they returned to the team hotel from a pregame shoot-around.
Russert was also an avid supporter of the BC football team, taking time on Meet the Press to note the Eagles' win over Notre Dame, to end the show wearing a BC baseball cap and saying "Go Eagles!", or to hold up a "Ryan for Heisman" sign. When ABC asked BC for a spokesperson to introduce its starting lineups on the air in last season's ACC Championship Game, BC suggested Russert, even though the game would air on a rival network to his beloved NBC. Producers from ABC eagerly embraced the idea, and Russert prepared for an attacked the task as he would for presidential election night coverage. As he finished each introduction with Luke standing by as the director, an ABC producer remarked, "You seem at ease in front of the camera, for some reason."
"On behalf of everyone associated with BC Athletics," DeFilippo said, "I extend our deepest sympathies to Luke, Maureen, and all of Tim's many friends and colleagues."
