New York.- Grant Wahl was remembered Wednesday as a sportscaster, a man seeking social justice and a mentor who left lasting lessons with family and friends.
Wahl passed away at age 49, of an aortic aneurysm, on December 10 while covering the match between Argentina yes Holland on the World Cup of Qatar. A funeral held Wednesday at the Times Center turned into a two-hour celebration of his life being remembered with hundreds in attendance, including colleagues and leaders of the soccer.
“Grant and I were almost children when we met in Princeton,” said his wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, with a broken voice. “I was 18 and he was 21. In many ways we grew up together… he hadn’t traveled the world yet. In fact, he had only left the country a couple of times, both times for Argentina. But as much as I enjoyed his provincial character at the time, there was something revealing about him, this curiosity I had about the world”.
Wahl grew up in Mission, a suburb of Kansas City. He graduated from Princeton in 1996 and became a fact checker for the magazine Sports illustrated. He was promoted to reporter and covered basketball and soccer.
Ultimately, he opted for the latter sport.
“Grant actually wrote to Sports Illustrated when he was finishing grade school to say, ‘My name is Grant Wahl and I want to write for your magazine,'” his brother Eric recalled. “And he got a response, which was something like, ‘Dear Grant, thank you for your letter. Very good. He keeps writing.” The fact that he received an answer really stuck with him.”.
Wahl remained with the magazine until 2021, after which he created his own website and podcast Planet Fútbol.
LGBTQ+ rights advocate and critic of social injustice, Wahl had criticized the organizers of the World Cup in Qatar for their treatment of migrant workers in the country..
SOURCE: ap