Rich Tandler passes at 63
Posted by Mike Florio on October 17, 2018, 12:28 PM EDT
NBC Sports Washington
Rich Tandler, whose long-term coverage of D.C.’s football franchise included most recently a seven-year stint with NBC Sports Washington, has died. He was 63.
“We’re devastated to learn of the loss of one of our most loved and valued media members, Rich Tandler of NBC Sports Washington,” team owner Daniel Snyder said in a statement, via Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post. “His dedication to covering the Redskins over the past 14 years has made him an irreplaceable presence among our media corps, and he will be in our hearts. Our thoughts are with his family, our family at NBC Sports Washington, and the entire Redskins community. He will be truly missed.”
The team will pay tribute to Tandler this weekend, spokesman Tony Wyllie told Steinberg. Tandler’s long-time seat in the press box will not be used again.
Tandler regularly appeared on PFT Live, and his knowledge of the team and its inner workings was second to none. His hard work and dedication provided all football fans with a way to better understand the team and how it fit within the broader structure of the league.
We extend our condolences to Tandler’s family, friends, and colleagues.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You can't do epic **** with basic people." - DJax "We're on the rise, man, whether you're on the train or not." - Josh Norman
I held off on posting to this for a day because I'm not really sure how to react. Rich was a friend of mine for the last 40 years and the second one I've lost since August. I know there are people who loved what he did and how he did it and people who hated what he did and how he did it but he made a career out of being a passionate Redskins fan and writing about it and getting noticed. His blog was around about as long as THN has been around. I'm not sure he's replaceable and apparently neither are the Redskins. They've said no one else will ever sit in his seat at FedEx. I still don't know what to say to his wife, Andi. I don't handle death well. I'll probably mishandle my own when the time comes. Redskins writers who are also Redskins fans are a small and close-knit family. There aren't many of them and now there's one fewer. 63 isn't old enough to be gone.
“He was at that time the smartest player in the league. We did everything we could to try to eliminate him from the play. We knew if we didn’t neutralize him, then we had less of a chance of winning.” - John Hannah on Chris Hanburger
Man, that is terrible. I'm really sorry to hear that you lost your friend as well. I sincerely enjoyed his writing and thought he's been one of the best guys covering the team for a while now. It sounds like he had a pretty amazing personal story going from blogging to covering the team professionally. You could really tell how how loved and respected he was by his fellow reporters and members of the team.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You can't do epic **** with basic people." - DJax "We're on the rise, man, whether you're on the train or not." - Josh Norman
Sorry for your loss, always enjoyed Rich's stuff. Met him on several occasions and got to talk football with him up in Canton when Russ went in...super nice man!!
"Sean Taylor is hands down the best athlete I've ever coached it's not even close" Gregg Williams 2005 Mini-Camp
