The passing of Rick Wolff has hit listeners and staffers at WFAN hard. Wednesday morning on Boomer & Gio, the two hosts talked about the impact the weekend host had on them long before they became his co-workers.
“He was a guy that, way before I worked here, I knew the name and knew the show and put it on,” Gregg Giannotti said. “Then when I worked here, worked on that show a few times. Always just a great gentleman.”
Sports radio is a business filled with a lot of ego. Giannotti said that ego could make some co-workers hard to deal with, but Wolff was just the opposite.
“When you hear about how nice of a guy he was, every bit of that was true in the interactions that I had.”
“He was part of my Sunday routine, every Sunday morning,” Boomer Esiason added.
Rick Wolff did a show focused on issues in youth sports. Esiason said he always found the subject matter interesting, but as his kids got older and started playing in more competitive baseball leagues, Wolff’s Sports Edge became appointment listening for him.
“I enjoyed it,” Esiason said. “Every weekend I looked forward to it. It was only an hour. It was the perfect time. Driving around with the bagels and the coffee and all the different things I would do on a Sunday morning, I made sure I left most mornings at the start of his show.”
Wolff died Monday morning. He had been fighting brain cancer. He was 71 years old.
“71, for me, too young as a healthy person,” Giannotti said. “Unfortunately, getting struck with brain cancer is as bad as it gets.”
Rick Wolff is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, Trish, as well as son John, daughters Alyssa and Samantha, and three grandchildren.
