John Clayton, longtime NFL journalist, has died at 67

Former NFL reporter and commentator John Clayton died Friday after a "brief illness." He was 67.

Clayton, known as "The Professor," spent 23 years working for The Pittsburgh Press and Tacoma News Tribune, where he was a beat reporter covering the Seattle Seahawks, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL, a statement from Seattle said. He moved on to become an NFL insider for ESPN in 1995. And recently he'd been on radio — hosting The John Clayton Weekends show in Seattle, and reporting from the sidelines for the Seattle Seahawks Radio Network.

He won the Dick McCann Award in 2007 for his "long and distinguished reporting on professional football," the Seahawks wrote.