Christopher Sign, a former University of Alabama football player who was also a news anchor at ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, Alabama, reportedly died over the weekend.
Police told AL.com that Sign died of an apparent suicide. He was just 45-years-old.
“Our deepest sympathy is shared with Christopher’s loving family and close friends,” ABC 33/40 VP and general manager Eric Land said in a statement. “We have lost a revered colleague whose indelible imprint will serve forever as a hallmark of decency, honesty and journalist integrity. We can only hope to carry on his legacy. May his memory be for blessing.”
Sign played offensive line for Alabama from 1994-1997. His wife, Laura, played volleyball at Alabama, and the couple had three sons. His reporting career started in Montgomery, Alabama, but he would soon make his way to Birmingham to work for ABC 33/40 where he earned several awards for his stories.
“I can’t believe we have an article with this title. It doesn’t feel real. We were in the office together last night cutting up like we always do. I don’t understand why. I can’t talk about you in the past tense. The grief today is unbearable,” sports anchor Jaime Hale wrote on Twitter.
Following that job, Sign moved to Phoenix where he worked for nearly 13 years. He would break the story of the June 2016 secret tarmac meeting between former President Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NCAA stories via Google! Follow Us
“What most people don’t know is Chris turned down an opportunity to work for one of the national networks to come to ABC 33/40, and he made that decision because of his family,” the Birmingham station wrote in a tribute to their employee. “That decision put him in a place where he could see his boys off to school in the mornings, watch them play baseball in the evenings, and take them fishing on the weekends.”
