Jim Moore: John Clayton was ‘tireless and unstoppable,’ but never acted like a big-timer

The first time I talked to John Clayton on the phone, he was on a plane somewhere bound for somewhere else, in the midst of visiting 17 NFL training camps in 20 days.

“Normally this would be an exhausting trip, but I’m energized,” he said. “I love pro football.”

He had already written four stories and done three radio shows that day and was off to find out about another injury and roster move because when you’re The Professor, that’s what you do.

He was 50 then, in 2004, working 15 hours a day seven days a week, functioning on three to four hours of sleep a night, telling me: “I can wake up from a dead sleep and spout out salary cap numbers if asked.”

I’m not sure why this was the first thing I thought about when I heard that Clayton died at the age of 67 Friday night. He was the classic example of hard work paying off, parlaying all of his efforts into a sportswriting job covering the Seahawks for the News Tribune from 1986-98 and widespread fame later on at ESPN.

He was tireless and unstoppable, rarely taking vacations, and that’s what made this news so stunning. Clayton had health issues before. In 2003 a bout with diverticulitis caused him to have 18 inches of his colon removed, but that forced him to miss only seven days of TV with ESPN, four days of writing and two days of radio hits.

When I interviewed him 18 years ago, none of this surprised me. Back when the Seahawks had their headquarters in Kirkland before cell phones arrived, Clayton was always in the corner of the media room with a phone glued to his ear, talking to a GM or coach, scribbling down what they were telling him, no doubt working on his latest scoop.

I heard he was ill last week but wrongly assumed he would be back on the airwaves soon, saying “let’s put it this way” and “also too,” using catch-phrases he was famous for, while churning out the latest NFL developments without missing a beat.

For more than two decades, we heard Clayton locally on KJR and KIRO-AM with his own show or as an NFL insider on other shows. It was can’t miss radio - in the 10 years I worked on the afternoon show at KIRO, Clayton’s segment was our highest-rated half hour.

More often than not, Clayton did those segments from home. But I’ll never forget the times when he joined us in person, finding out that all of that knowledge is stored in his own personal database. I’ve got notes scattered everywhere, but here was The Professor, just smiling away, ready to answer your next question, hands on the notes-less desk in front of him.

Clayton was a big deal who never big-timed anyone. Above all else, that’s what I appreciated about him. I can still remember seeing him in the press box at a Seahawks’ game when I barely knew him. Clayton probably had a million things going on in that brain of his before kickoff while I was probably just wondering where the pre-game breakfast was.

He stopped and said hello and looked like he had all the time in the world for me. Clayton was not one of those guys - and we all know them - who would give you the courtesy greeting while scanning the room for someone else more important to talk to. You were the most important person to him, and I’m not saying that just about me, I’m saying that about everyone.

I was once told that if you started to take things away from John one by one - his TV gig, his writing gigs, his radio hits - the thing he’d want to keep above all else was his Saturday morning radio show.

Keep in mind that Saturday morning shows don’t matter to program directors, but they did to Clayton. I listened almost every week as he engaged with his callers. You could sound stupid or crazy, but Clayton would never be dismissive and cut anyone off. I got a kick out of his regular cast of characters, particularly Irish Minky, a Notre Dame fan who changed his voice and playfully pleaded with “MR. CLAYTON” to “COME TO JESUS!!!”

I feel badly for those callers whose Saturdays won’t be the same anymore, but everyone’s heart really goes out to his wife, Pat. There can’t be a husband anywhere who could love his wife more than John loved Pat. As much as the NFL was a huge part of his life, it was a distant second to Pat.

John would tell us about their date nights and challenges with Pat’s multiple sclerosis. His devotion always shined through. As an example, he had an elevator installed in his condo just down the street from the Seahawks’ practice facility, to make it easier for Pat to get from one floor to the other.

Pat was just as devoted to him, frequently sending out group emails to let everyone know about John’s latest Washington Post column and writing a Christmas newsletter that featured John’s accomplishments from the previous year.

A couple holiday seasons ago, John told a radio host he was so busy that he didn’t have time to get a Christmas tree. That didn’t seem right to me. So I went to Fred Meyer and bought him a small artificial tree and took it to his home. He was so appreciative you would have thought I dropped off everything in Santa’s sleigh.

Social media tributes to Clayton are sad and heart-warming at the same time. The ones that stand out the most are from the so-called “little guys,” people behind the scenes who worked with Clayton. What he meant to them, how much they appreciated his advice and just plain getting the chance to spend time with him. Makes sense because The Professor loved to embrace his students.

On Nov. 12, 2020, I was on a Tiger Mountain trail with my dogs when my phone rang. I had been fired by KIRO-AM radio earlier that day. And on the same day, Clayton was told he could keep his Saturday show and regular weekday segments with other shows, but his own weekday show was being canceled.

Yet he still had the compassion and time to call to see how I was doing, even when his world was being turned upside down.

I’m guessing he’ll be remembered by his 1.3 million Twitter followers and former ESPN viewers and radio listeners as one of the finest NFL reporters ever. But it’s the personal side of John Clayton that stands out the most.

Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. You can find him on Twitter @cougsgo, and on 950 KJR-AM, where he co-hosts a sports talk show from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays.

This story was originally published March 19, 2022 at 2:13 PM.