Friends express ‘disbelief’ with passing of KC-native soccer journalist Grant Wahl

By Andy Alcock

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — Long before Grant Wahl gained prominence as a soccer journalist, he was a student at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas.

Wahl collapsed and died Friday while covering the World Cup in Qatar.

The 1992 Shawnee Mission East yearbook includes Wahl’s senior photo, a picture with other advanced Spanish students, and him taking part in a cross-country meet.

Wahl also worked on the yearbook staff.

Donna Skates was the yearbook advisor for 20 years and is currently retired.

“He was the best sportswriter I ever had. I’ll never forget his passion and heart. I didn’t teach him to write or interview; he just knew how to do it very well,” she said.

Nate Bukaty, the play-by-play announcer for Sporting Kansas City, interviewed Wahl for a podcast the week before the World Cup began while Wahl was already in Qatar.

“The idea that would be the last conversation I had with him didn’t even cross my mind at that point, so when the news came out on Friday, it was really disbelief, honestly, for the first few hours, trying to sort through can this really be true and still trying to come to grips with it, to be honest with you,” he said.

Bukaty said Wahl’s passing has created a void in soccer journalism and it can’t be replaced by any one person.

But Bukaty said other young soccer journalists Wahl encouraged collectively will fill that void.

“He was always promoting other people within the game, which to me is one of the things I appreciated about him the most,” he said.

Wahl’s career included stints at CBS and Fox Sports, as well as a long run at Sports Illustrated.

In 2002, Wahl had a cover story about then-high school basketball prodigy LeBron James, who now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

“It’s a tragic loss. It’s unfortunate to lose someone as great as he was,” James said.

“It tells you something about the legacy you’ve left behind if LeBron James is making a statement as powerful as the one he made about what Grant meant to him,” Bukaty said.

“He was a wonderful person. It’s just so sad,” Skates said.

Wahl first became passionate about soccer after going to Princeton and meeting men’s coach Bob Bradley.

Bradley would go on to manage MLS teams and U.S. national team.

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