Radio host pays touching tribute to legendary figure

Longtime NBA executive Pat Williams passed away on Wednesday. Williams was part of the group that helped bring the Orlando Magic into the NBA and served as the team’s first general manager.

As he talked about the passing of his longtime friend , Chris “Mad Dog” Russo tried not to break down. He spent nearly two hours of his SiriusXM radio show reflecting on and eulogizing the life that was, but perhaps the most heartfelt portion of it came from the one-minute and 28-second clip that Funhouse (@BackAftaThis on X) shared on Friday.

“I’ll read you this and see if I can’t break down here because I gotta read you this,” Russo began. “Now, this (was) just sent to me, I swear to God. I’ll give you the exact time — 3:16. I don’t know who the person is; (longtime producer) Eddie (Erickson) does. ‘Chris, this is Andy from the Orlando Magic. I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but Pat Williams passed away yesterday. You were one of his favorite people.'”

“I can’t finish it,” Russo said, fighting through tears. “Can’t. I can’t.”

There was some dead air for a few seconds as Russo choked back tears but mustered the ability to talk about his dear friend.

“There was nobody like Pat,” he added.

After about two minutes, Russo regained his composure and finished sharing the message from Andy.

“‘He wanted to know that he cherished your friendship and was always rooting for your success,'” the message read.

As Funhouse pointed out, Russo has frequently acknowledged Williams’ pivotal role in his career, stating that Williams helped him survive as a struggling young radio host in Florida.

“Pat Williams was one of the most unbelievable people that I met in my long radio career,” Russo said. “I don’t think I met anybody who had as much of an interesting background in sports and, obviously, the NBA — his bonafide — than Pat. And I knew Pat in Orlando back in ’86, and Pat saved my radio career…If it weren’t for him, I didn’t know I would’ve made it — to make a long story short. He was that significant.

“Just to have somebody to cover. He was that significant at a time where I needed it in the worse way in the mid-80s at WKIS in Orlando, Florida…When Pat Williams arrived at Orlando International at a weekday morning at 8 a.m., there were media there to greet him, and I was one of the media guys. And I needed a life raft, and he gave it to me.

“So for the next couple of years — because I left in ’87 — I must’ve interviewed Pat Williams, I’m gonna say at least 100 times. I mean, everywhere he went, I went…”

As a precursor to his departure, Russo was essentially demoted to weekends. However, when Williams arrived in town to establish the Orlando Magic, the station realized they needed on-site coverage and Russo to be at the forefront.

On his final radio broadcast in the late 80s, Russo hosted John Feinstein and Williams. When the latter was in town to say goodbye to Russo, he surprised the longtime radio host by presenting a mayoral declaration from the city of Orlando.

“There are about four or five people in the part of my life, between ’83 and ’87-88…that if it wasn’t for them, I would be back in New York selling jewelry with Tony Russo…and Pat’s right there.”

[ Funhouse ]

The post Chris Russo overcome with emotion as he shares touching tribute to the late Pat Williams appeared first on Awful Announcing .