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Chris Spatola had a way of making basketball feel bigger than the game itself. He had been a player at Army, an Army officer, a Duke coach, and eventually a familiar voice on ESPN. But to the people who knew him, he was the guy who brought energy into the room, talked about his family, and still looked genuinely fired up when it was time to call another game. That’s how Rece Davis remembers him.
“Devastated to hear the news of the loss of Chris Spatola,” Rece Davis wrote on X after ESPN announced Chris Spatola’s unexpected death at 47. “Brilliant, funny, dedicated to his family, hoops, and his craft of coaching and broadcasting. My prayers are with his beautiful family. I’ll remember him like this-coming out of practice-fired up for a game.”
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Chris Spatola passed away Monday, according to ESPN. The network did not provide details about his death. What followed was an outpouring from the college basketball community, with colleagues remembering a man who seemed to bring the same enthusiasm whether he was sitting behind a microphone or standing on a basketball court.
For Rece Davis, Chris Spatola was a longtime professional colleague and friend. His path to ESPN was anything but typical. He spent four years at Army from 1998 to 2002 and became a four-year starter. He led the Black Knights in scoring three times and finished his career with 1,543 points, 10th on Army’s all-time scoring list. Then came military service.
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After Army, Chris Spatola spent five years in the U.S. military. Part of that time took him to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He never really left that part of his life behind. In 2018, he was getting ready to call the Army-Duke game on Veterans Day when he spoke about what his Army years meant to him.
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“I’m so proud to be a military veteran and to say that I was a small part of what I consider to be the best team in the world,” he said at…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/devastated-espn-rece-davis-pens-030507362.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-23 03:05:00
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