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Kirk Herbstreit reveals wife Alison was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Kirk Herbstreit revealed there was more to his emotional postgame moment than simply seeing his alma mater win a national championship.
Fans who watched Herbstreit on ESPN’s postgame coverage of the College Football Playoff National Championship noticed that the college football analyst got emotional talking to Scott Van Pelt about the moment for Ohio State, his alma mater.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, Herbstreit revealed that 2024 was a challenging year for his family, revealing that his beloved dog, Ben, was not the only family member with health issues. Herbstreit’s wife, Alison, battled breast cancer.
“I haven’t really talked about this publicly, but Ali my wife faced some stuff. It’s been a tough year for me behind the scenes,” Herbstreit said Tuesday. “My wife got diagnosed with breast cancer, Ben dies, it was just a lot of emotion. And when you do what we do, you endure. You do your job.
“And I think what happened, I couldn’t predict it, but when they won I was so happy for Ryan Day and his players and all the stuff they faced behind the scenes, it was like almost, I don’t know, maybe a release of all that pent-up stuff. And it just got the best of me. I’m an emotional guy in general and when things touch my heart, I’m not good at talking when that happens.”
"It's been a tough year for my family and I have a lot of gratitude for Ryan Day..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 21, 2025
I was just so happy for him and his players..
My wife was in the booth with me and we were looking down watching our son" @KirkHerbstreit #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/hCaju4KUsK
Herbstreit also felt emotional thinking about his son Zak, also a Buckeye, medically retiring after dealing with heart failure, but remaining part of Ryan Day’s team. Herbstreit joked that his emotions were already getting the best of him before Van Pelt asked him for comment.
Saturday Down South joins the rest of the college football community in praying for Alison Herbstreit.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
