OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Friday, the sports world suffered a great loss.
Grant Wahl — a native of Mission, Kansas, and a respected American sports journalist — died in Qatar while covering the World Cup.
Reporters sitting in the media area with Wahl said he had a sudden, severe medical issue and could not be revived.
Shocked by his loss, his colleagues back in the States are grieving his legacy.
“The thought that I would never see him again did not cross my mind at all,” said Nate Bukaty, play-by-play announcer and sports commentator for Sporting Kansas City.
Bukaty says he's in disbelief. Wahl was more than his colleague, he was someone Bukaty had grown to know personally over the years.
“You know there is just a void that I'm not sure can be filled, it can't be filled by any one person,” Bukaty said. "I would say that Grant Wahl was easily one of the most, if not the most, respected soccer journalists in all of the United States of America.”
Nearly a month ago, Bukaty sat down with Wahl ahead of the World Cup, noting his unmatched passion for the sport.
“He was always looking to promote other people actually in soccer media so that they can do well in the business as well,” Bukaty said. "Because it's kind of a niche sport still in the United States in many ways and he was a big advocate for it, and a great help to people like me.”
Bukaty says Wahl covered soccer domestically and internationally for years, including many World Cups. As a colleague, Bukaty says he noticed Wahl cared deeply about the players both on and off the field.
“He wrote some really scathing pieces about some of the human rights issues that are taking place leading up to the World Cup in Qatar, and other issues like that as well,” Bukaty said. “So he really ventured outside the lines as well and told a lot of really important stories about human things that were happening around the sports he covered.”
Wahl's coverage dared to be loud, attempting to gain soccer more attention.
“He provided such good soccer coverage, and people reacted to what he had to say,” Bukaty said. “A lot of sports media outlets realized this is something we should be investing in, we should be hiring more people to cover the sport of soccer.”
Even as a native of Mission, Kansas, spending many hours covering soccer in the Kansas City area, Bukaty says Wahl never took sides.
“He was fair to his hometown team, just like he was to everybody else," Bukaty said. "I think at the end of the day, even when people were frustrated with him when he would be critical of their team, he knew he was trying to be fair. And I think that's one of the things that's always had him universally respected."
Gone too soon, Wahl's integrity and heart will be missed.
“He helped grow a game for a fan base, a country that was really thirsty for it, and he provided that for so many people, which means he enhanced their lives,” Bukaty said.
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