Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Steve Byrnes 1959-2015

Fox Sports announcer Steve Byrnes died Tuesday after a nearly two-year battle with head and neck cancer. Byrnes had turned 56 years old one week ago. Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race in Bristol, Tennessee was named in honor of Byrnes and the organization Stand Up to Cancer. Despite his declining health, Byrnes remained brave and confident during the last couple of months.

Byrnes first worked as an announcer with TNN in 1985. He joined the then-new NASCAR on Fox (now officially named Fox NASCAR) in 2001 and joined pit reporters such as Dick Berggren, Krista Voda and Matt Yocum as well as Hollywood Hotel analysts Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond, and commentators Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip. Byrnes was born in 1959 in Chicago, but lived for many years in the Washington, DC suburb of New Carrollton, Maryland and graduated from the University of Maryland College Park campus in 1981, eventually moving to Fort Mill, South Carolina near Charlotte. Byrnes leaves behind his wife Karen and 12-year-old son Bryson.

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