Legendary NFL writer Peter King is retiring after spending over 40 years in the business. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
Peter King, a patriarch of a generation of football writers and reporters, announced his retirement on Monday in his weekly “Football Morning in America” column. The title? “It’s Time. Who’s Complaining? Not Me.”
“I’m retiring*. I use an asterisk because I truly don’t know what the future holds for me,” King wrote. “I probably will work at something, but as I write this I have no idea what it will be. Maybe it will be something in the media world, but just not Football Morning in America (nee Monday Morning Quarterback).”
King gave his reasons, mostly related to his age and his waning interest in covering “the day-to-day minutiae of the league.” But his family was the biggest factor. Now 66 years old, King revealed he’s already outlived his three closest male relatives (his father and two brothers had all died by 64). He recalled that his good friend, fellow football writer Don Banks, died in 2019 at just 57 in a hotel room in Canton, Ohio, the night after covering the Hall of Fame ceremonies. None of them ever experienced retirement, and he doesn’t want to go down the same path.
“Don’t mean to be so deep; many of you who know me understand I’m pretty shallow. But I’ve found myself wondering, Am I meant to do one thing from the time I walk out of college until the day they put me in the ground?” King wrote. “And who knows — I may find myself jonesing to do something in the media when I’m bored in three months. But it’s like when Atlanta writer Jeff Schultz retired in December and said, ‘Let me get bored. I want to know what that feels like.’ That resonated. I know I’ll want to do something with my time eventually. I just don’t know what it is.”
King has been covering football in one manner or another for 44 years. He began writing about football straight out of college and never stopped. He started as a newspaperman at the Cincinnati Enquirer in the 1980s, then moved over to a different part of the newsstand after being hired by Sports Illustrated in 1989. King began his signature column, then called “Monday Morning Quarterback,” in 1997 when his football editor at SI “asked me to empty my notebook every Monday after I wrote my weekly football column.”
Sports Illustrated was King’s home until 2018, when he pulled up stakes at SI permanently and joined NBC full time, 12 years after he began appearing on “Football Night in America” as an analyst. His column, renamed “Football Morning in America,” also came with him.
King has been highly influential among modern sportswriters — football writers especially — and many that he mentored, helped, inspired, or even simply worked with took to social media on Monday morning to pay homage to the King.
Simply put, @peter_king is a legend. As a professional, and as a man. One who treated me and my family with the utmost respect. Like family.
Enjoy whatever structure “retirement” has in store for you Peter, and thank you for every single thing you have done for me, talked…
— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) February 26, 2024
Congratulations to the Hall-of-Fame reporter and storyteller @peter_kingwho announced he is “retiring*”. Nobody went where he did, interviewed who he did, and loved what he did more than Peter. He is a legend.
Monday mornings, and this business, won’t be the same without him.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 26, 2024
Maybe the most fitting thing about this is how many people he helped/mentored over the years he’s working to promote in the column. I’m one who could never do enough to repay him. And hopefully we can all do the only thing he ever asked—help someone else.
Thank you, @peter_king. https://t.co/EtXcTGX5cS
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) February 26, 2024
Peter King puts a – 30 – on an incredible run. As a longtime writer of a notes column, I’ve always been in awe of his longevity and productivity. So glad I got to sit next to him for USC-CU in the fall and pick his brain. https://t.co/rzOI7ZvqSm
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) February 26, 2024
Congratulations on an incredible and amazing career, @peter_king. I couldn’t wait to read your NFL articles via *Prodigy* when the internet was just beginning when I was 17 years old.
33 years later, I’m doing the same at 50 years old.
One hell of a run. ????????
Enjoy retirement!— Sal Capaccio ???? (@SalSports) February 26, 2024
Congrats, @peter_king … can’t over-state how kind and gracious Peter was and is to younger scribes, as seen in his column today or so many of the kind / helpful words he’s shared — in print or not— to so many of us over the years. It’s a great way to be and how it should be.
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) February 26, 2024
An iconic run for @peter_king. Football fans have been so fortunate for so long to wake up each Monday morning to your column with unparalleled insight into all things NFL. Congratulations, Peter! https://t.co/zjK3DzYJyA
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 26, 2024
What a remarkable run for one of the nicest, warmest, respected, most giving to others force in NFL media I’ve been fortunate to meet and call a friend.
One of the many things I know I know about the great @peter_king https://t.co/npEIe1LKN0
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) February 26, 2024
“Eddie. Eddie Werder.” That’s how the Peter King addressed me in person or on the phone.
I’ve known and admired @peter_king since he gave me my first big opportunity – to be a regular NFL contributor to his SI columns and later convinced CNN-SI to hire me to do TV.
Thank you! https://t.co/ZGGMVmENKI
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) February 26, 2024
2024-02-26 15:23:07
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