The Seattle Seahawks family is sad to announce the passing of our friend and digital media reporter, Mike Kahn. He passed away late Wednesday evening with his family by his side, after a long bout with lung cancer. The The Seahawks send their thoughts and prayers to the Kahn family and will forever be grateful for the time, dedication and friendship Mike devoted to our organization and the entire 12th MAN community.
Mike Kahn Remembered
• John Clayton: My Professional Brother
• Bart Wright: The Unbroken Circle
• Tony Ventrella: A Good Friend
• John McGrath: A Fellow Traveler
A native Ohioan who split his childhood between Cleveland and Cincinnati and went to Ohio State, Mike had been a sportswriter for over 30 years, covering all major sports.
He visited the Pacific Northwest for the first time in 1984 as a writer for the Indianapolis Colts and fell in love with Seattle. Two years later, he moved west to assist Senior ESPN.com writer, John Clayton, as a writer for The News Tribune when he wasn't covering the Seattle Supersonics and the NBA.
In 1995, he left the Tribune for an opportunity in Fort Lauderdale to be a managing editor and launch the new web site that would later become CBSSportsLine.com.
Mike returned to his beloved Seahawks in 2004 just in time to see them reach the Super Bowl in 2005. For the Seahawks he wrote features, news, notebooks, a weekly mailbag and game stories; plus some video interviews and a web radio show with Tony Ventrella during training camp.
John Clayton, who helped bring Mike to Seattle, wrote the following in reaction to the news of his friend's passing:
In 1986, I came to the Northwest with Mike Kahn by my side, feeling like Lewis & Clark, explorers in a strange, beautiful new world. On the urging of our close friend Bart Wright, who was becoming the columnist at the Tacoma News Tribune (TNT), we were under consideration for the Seahawks beat. The News Tribune wanted to challenge Seattle's two major papers in sports. Kahn and I loved the odds. I covered the Steelers and the NFL for the Pittsburgh Press. He covered the Indianapolis Colts and all other sports for a paper in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Through the years, Mike and I worked together on football stories and spent hours during each day comparing notes about sports and our loves for breaking stories.
As it turned out, I ended up with the Seahawks beat. Mike loved the situation at the paper so much he was willing to either cover the University of Washington or the Sonics. Despite years of great football coverage, Kahn chose the NBA and covered the sport like Gary Payton stayed with defenders. Payton was ''The Glove.'' Kahn covered his beat tighter than any glove. For years, we felt like the Three Musketeers. It was Kahn, Wright and Clayton competing against the world and feeling as though the world was ours. Our sword was information. Our passion was delivering it in print. The paper supported us with great reporting talents such as Don Borst, Larry LaRue and so many others. We tried to make the TNT the place for sports fans to turn to for current information.
Kahn always was in demand for jobs in other cities, but his love for the Seattle-Tacoma area kept him by my side until he had the opportunity to be a pioneer on the Internet. He became the managing editor of CBS Sportsline. From scratch, he built an Internet sports site that was in the image of our competitive days at the TNT. While I would see him during my trips to south Florida, I knew one day he would be back in the Northwest. Once CBS Sportsline was running smoothly, he was able to work it so he could come back to Tacoma to spend the rest of his life. When the opportunity came to get back to football, Mike brought his insight to Seahawks.com, but still kept his basketball opinions going for FoxSports.com.
Though I grew up as an only child, I was so lucky to have family. Mike Kahn was my professional brother. We spent more quality time together than many family members. We were soul mates in a great profession. Readers will miss his insight and opinion. I miss one of my closest friends.
Services will be held this Sunday in his home state of Ohio. Memorial contributions may be made in Mike's name to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center by clicking here or calling 1-800-279-1618.
