Martin Fennelly, a longtime sportswriter in the Tampa area, passed away. Several in the sports media world paid tribute to him. Photo screengrabbed from Tampa Bay Times on YouTube Photo screengrabbed from Tampa Bay Times on YouTube

Martin Fennelly, who spent three decades as a sports writer and columnist in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, passed away on Friday.

The news of Fennelly’s passing was shared on Twitter/X by Action Network’s Brett McMurphy on Sunday.

“Incredibly sad news: former Tampa Tribune & Tampa Bay Times columnist Martin Fennelly, 65, passed away Friday from a heart attack. Martin was not only the best writer I ever knew, but the smartest, funniest & most compassionate person as well. RIP.”

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1751688016525918362

Fennelly was well liked and well respected in the sports media world as both a writer and a person. To that end, several people who knew Fennelly flocked to Twitter/X to pay tribute to him, honoring both his work and character.

https://twitter.com/JennaLaineESPN/status/1751703921976897695

Fennelly began writing for The Tampa Tribune in 1991. In 2016, The Tampa Tribune was bought by the Tampa Bay Times and Fennelly continued writing for that paper. He later wrote for the Tampa Free Press. His most recent article for the Tampa Free Press ran on Feb. 17, 2021. He had bylines in the Palm Beach Post and Ocala Star Banner in 2022.

[Brett McMurphy on Twitter/X, Photo screengrabbed from Tampa Bay Times on YouTube]

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