Bonneville announces John Clayton Memorial Fund to support National MS Society

Mar 21, 2022, 11:02 AM | Updated: Mar 22, 2022, 1:48 pm

Bonneville International is remembering long-time NFL insider John Clayton by organizing the John Clayton Memorial Fund, which will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in his memory.

A great friend of Arizona Sports, Clayton died Friday at the age of 67 after a brief illness.

Clayton and his wife, Pat, have been long-time supporters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, an MS research group.

The public can donate by clicking here, and 100% of the donations will go toward the National MS Society. Bonneville, the parent company of Arizona Sports, has contributed $10,000 to the fund in Clayton’s name.

“John was widely known as The Professor due to his deep sports knowledge, but he will be remembered most for who he was as a person,” Bonneville International president Darrell Brown said in a company email. “A dedicated husband and friend, he treated strangers, sports stars, and co-workers with kindness, graciousness, and generosity. He was the embodiment of the Bonneville brand. We were fortunate to benefit from his expertise and lucky to have known him.

“John had two great loves in life, his wife and football. We at Bonneville, along with so many others, loved him and will miss him greatly. Over his five-decade-long career he not only made sports coverage better, but he also made all of us better.”

Clayton hosted regular sports radio shows in Seattle for KJR-AM and Seattle Sports 910 AM, a Bonneville station, throughout his career. He had also appeared in the past year at The Fan 104.3 FM in Denver and in the past made regular appearances on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station. Both are also Bonneville stations.

The Seattle Seahawks announced the death for Clayton’s family in a statement on Friday. Clayton worked for the team in recent years as a sideline reporter on radio broadcasts.

Clayton spent more than two decades covering the Pittsburgh Steelers for The Pittsburgh Press and the Seattle Seahawks for The News Tribune in Tacoma. Clayton moved to ESPN in 1995, becoming one of the lead NFL writers for the company. Clayton appeared on TV and radio for ESPN and worked at the company for more than 20 years.

Clayton was awarded with what is now known as the Bill Nunn Memorial Award by the Professional Football Writers of America in 2007. The award is presented annually for long and distinguished reporting on football.