As the 12th Saturday of the 2024 season gets underway, a familiar face will be absent from the college football-watching family. Earlier this week, College GameDay host and voice of the sport Kirk Herbstreit delivered the devastating news that college football’s best boy, Ben Herbstreit, had succumbed to ill health.
College Football’s Best Boy, Ben Herbstreit, Remembered as College Gameday Kicks Off Week 11 Saturday
There is much divide within our world right now. But as College GameDay got underway on Saturday, the entire college football family was united in remembering the sport’s best boy.
Thank you again for all the outpouring of love for our Ben. I can’t tell you how much it means to me and my family.
He wasn’t just my best friend – he was America’s best friend ❤️ pic.twitter.com/WtpR2fHjjq
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 9, 2024
In a sport where cliches are as commonplace as touchdowns, “a dog is a man’s best friend” doesn’t do justice to the relationship between Herbstreit and Ben. Yet, it is almost the perfect description of a partnership that has become a part of the fabric of college football. There is love. There is trust. Then there is total, unequivocal togetherness. That was Ben and Herbstreit.
When Hersbtreit began his social media post on Thursday with “this is really hard to write,” you knew before you read anymore what was to follow. Ben had been ill for a while, but that didn’t remove the utter sense of dread combined with pangs of empathy for a man delivering the news that you know broke his heart to a public almost as equally invested in the relationship.
This is really hard to write but so many of you have loved and cared about Ben that I wanted to let you know. We found out today the cancer had spread throughout Bens organs and there was nothing left we could do-we had to let him go. I’ve had dogs my whole life but Ben was 1 on… pic.twitter.com/jDvPTbNv2M
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 7, 2024
The college football world has embraced Ben and Herbstreit. There is a simple purity about their connection. The furry friend has been there in the darkest of moments for the College GameDay personality, providing the companionship and love that we all need at differing times in our lives. They made you want to hold your child, hug your dog, stroke your cat just a little tighter.
It is part of the human condition to seek comfort in something, and there have been few things so comforting in life than watching one man and his dog travel the country together, laughing together, fooling around together, and enjoying life together. It provides a warm feeling inside and a hope that there is someone or something out there to comfort everyone.
In dark times, like for Herbstreit this week, as he goes into a workplace that he once shared with his best friend, a workplace that contains a noticeable hole, college football has a remarkable way of uniting and surrounding its personalities. No more has that been apparent than the outpouring of emotion from media personalities, players, and college football programs.
Social media is awash with photos, videos, and words from those mentioned above, sharing their memories of the best boy. There are too many to fit into one article, a reflection of how the loss of one man’s dog has truly impacted college football. Yet, the ones below give you a tiny taste of the scale of genuine, heartfelt, outpouring of emotion.
if you didn’t have the pleasure of having a play date with my Ben, let me just tell you— he was the greatest
I’m sending all of my love to @KirkHerbstreit, you were the best dad to the bestest boy & he was so lucky to have you
thanks for always making time for us to play 🥺🐾 pic.twitter.com/15ZPVBCoXP
— Reveille X 🐾 (@reveille) November 7, 2024
Rest in peace to a Damn Good Dawg.@KirkHerbstreit #GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/L0YS9wJKnH
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) November 7, 2024
A touching tribute video to Ben Herbstreit, one of America’s favorite dogs, who sadly died after a battle with cancer.
“He was my best friend,” – @KirkHerbstreit
🥹🥹🥹
pic.twitter.com/rzhpFrUYJg— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) November 7, 2024
We’re sending our positive vibes to @KirkHerbstreit..
Ben was a special dog and he was beloved by everybody #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/K8VksD3B1G
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 8, 2024
we’re so lucky we got to meet you, Ben 🫶🤘#HookEm | @KirkHerbstreit pic.twitter.com/LqwZmuUGDa
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) November 7, 2024
Herbstreit has already returned to work. A consummate professional, he was in the booth to commentate on the NFL on the same day that he informed the world of his loss. On Saturday, on College GameDay, he returns to a set without his best friend, his best colleague, his best boy.
It will be an emotional goodbye on a public stage. But it’s one that he won’t do alone, with the entire college football community united by their grief and also united in comforting the longtime voice of college football.
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