John Clayton (sportswriter)
| John Travis Clayton | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 11, 1954 Braddock, Pennsylvania |
| Education |
Churchill Area High School Duquesne University |
| Occupation |
National Football League analyst Sports radio host |
| Website | http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/john-clayton/ |
John Travis Clayton (born May 11, 1954) is a National Football League (NFL) writer and former reporter for ESPN. He was also a senior writer for ESPN.com.
Clayton began covering sports while still a student at Churchill Area High School. Starting with the Pittsburgh Steelers' 1972 training camp, he covered the team in twice-weekly dispatches in the St. Marys, Pennsylvania Daily Press. He later wrote for Steel City Sports, a weekly publication in Pittsburgh. In 1975, Steel City Sports changed into Score! Pittsburgh and Clayton was a staff writer, covering the Steelers. He also served as a stringer for a number of radio networks, including AP Radio, and covered games, providing the network with sound clips from locker room interviews after games involving Pittsburgh's professional sports teams.
Clayton graduated from Duquesne University in 1976, and later worked for The Pittsburgh Press. He had done part-time work for the paper while attending college.
In May 1978, Clayton was sent to cover a Steelers mini-camp in place of the Press' regular Steelers beat writer, Glenn Sheeley. While there he discovered and reported a rules violation which would cost the team a draft pick. The affair was dubbed "Shouldergate" by Clayton. Clayton became persona non grata for some time in his hometown for his role in the affair.
Clayton eventually worked his way up to become the Steelers beat writer at the Press, before leaving the paper in 1986. He moved across the country and began covering the Seattle Seahawks for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington. It was at this time that he began appearing in NFL segments on Seattle sports radio station KJR (AM) on host Nanci Donnellan's program "The Fabulous Sports Babe". When Donnellan's show was picked up by ESPN for national syndication, Clayton came along as an NFL correspondent.
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