Tom Borrelli

[Top Shelf]

Tom Borrelli, the Buffalo News sportswriter critically injured two weeks ago in a fall down a steep staircase, died this morning of complications from the fall.

Borrelli died at about 5:30 a.m. in Erie County Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized in critical condition since the Nov. 8 incident.

The 51-year-old Borrelli was injured while covering a high school football game for The News at All High Stadium. He scaled the approximately dozen metal stairs to the press box, before apparently striking his head on a steel girder and falling backward down the stairs.

The accident left him paralyzed from the neck down and breathing with a respirator. While his family hoped his condition would improve once the swelling went down, Borrelli had several serious setbacks in recent days, before he died.

"The newsroom is in shock," News Managing Editor Howard Smith said. "Tom was a total professional who knew how to do his job and did it as well as anyone can. He was as dedicated to his work as they come, and a first-rate human being. We will miss him terribly."

Among his duties at the News, Borrelli covered the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team, becoming the first sportswriter inducted into the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame.

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/499559.html

I know I speak for all of Banditland and all of the NLL when I say that he will be sorely missed.

RIP.

[BJ Sands]

I say as a sportswriter who has to deal with situations similar to this that this is truly chilling news.