Tony Ventrella’s son, Peter, posted the bad news this morning on Facebook. “It is with a very heavy heart that it was my Dad’s time to go do the great sportscast in the sky. He was loved by many, and passed away peacefully last night surrounded by loved ones. I will miss you Dad.”
Among the outpouring of online comments about Ventrella:
Chris Egan/King-5 TV posted on X: My heart is breaking this morning. We’ve lost a sports broadcasting legend. He was a great mentor, my friend and loved by many. I’m sad to report that former @KING5Seattle sports director Tony Ventrella passed away last night at the age of 80 with his family by his side.
Radio sports talker Dave Grosby posted: Legend is right. One of the all-time good people.Made a positive impact on everyone who came across him. Was a true pro in every sense of the word.
Essex Porter, retired, formerly with KIRO 7: A wonderful colleague and true gentleman whose heart embraced far more than sports.
Ventrella came to KOMO 4 from a Connecticut tv station in 1981. Ventrella was the sports director at KING 5 from 1982 to 1994 and is regarded as a sportscasting legend in the Pacific Northwest. He also worked at KIRO TV from 1994 to 2002 before he became a digital media host with the Seattle Seahawks. Ventrella had also worked for FOX 13 KCPQ during his tv career.
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In the late 1980’s Tony Ventrella invited our high school cheerleaders down to the King 5 station house and surrounded by the girls, allowed us to video tape him giving the opening introduction to the years Thomas Jefferson football highlights video presentation. When he was finished the cheerleaders smothered him with their pom poms. You had to see it to believe it. He was in his truest display of character. Tony, we love you.
I think Ventrella and Jim Harriott are the only two who have “hit for the cycle” in local TV, each doing time at 4, 5, 7, and 13.
Rebecca Stevenson has also hit for the cycle.
Many King broadcaster went to KIRO 7. I was just thinking, Aaron, Joyce, Tony, Jesse Jones, Herb Weisbaum, I think. I think it was late 90s and their must have been a story to that.