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The NFL and Chicago sports communities have helped raise more than $900,000 — and counting — to support the family of late ESPN reporter Jeff Dickerson, who died Tuesday at age 43 after a yearlong battle with colon cancer.
Dickerson’s wife, Caitlin, died from complications from melanoma in 2019 at age 36. The couple is survived by their 11-year-old son, Parker.
Parker’s aunt on Tuesday started a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $100,000 to support his education, health and athletics, his love of which is well known to anyone who knew Dickerson.
In two days, some of the biggest names in the NFL, Chicago sports and media contributed in honor of Dickerson, who was known for his talent and professionalism as a journalist and his positivity, kindness, humor and love of his family.
The Bears, the team Dickerson covered for 20 years, donated $25,000. So, too, did the Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay and Washington Football Team owners Dan and Tanya Snyder.
Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie donated $10,000, and Chicago sports figures Tom Ricketts, Andy Dalton and Anthony Rizzo, journalist Jay Glazer and the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation were among other big donors.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who has 8.9 million Twitter followers, has been promoting the fund on his account by thanking those who donate, including other NFL teams, Jed Hoyer, Theo Epstein, Tom Waddle, Charles Leno Jr. and the Loyola men’s basketball team, for which Dickerson served as a broadcast analyst.
Obvious Shirts, a Chicago apparel company, created orange and blue T-shirts with “JD” printed over a bear logo and is donating 100% of the profits to the fund. The company has made a $28,500 donation on the page already and tweeted Thursday morning that donations from the shirts had topped $40,000.
Meanwhile, tributes to Dickerson have poured in. Bears coach Matt Nagy, safety Eddie Jackson and wide receiver Darnell Mooney all offered their condolences to Dickerson’s family at the beginning of their virtual news conferences Wednesday.
“Obviously it’s a tough day for all of us,” Nagy said. “We know how much Jeff meant to all of us. … I was able to have four good years being able to learn who he is as a person and get to hear his stories, and when I think about Jeff, I think about how positive he was. Which we all talk about. He was always glass half-full. With me, he was always very supportive and respectful, which is pretty neat in this day and age to have somebody like that from the very start. And I appreciated that.”