Sportswriter dies of injuries suffered in fall at All High
Tom Borrelli, the Buffalo News sportswriter critically injured two weeks ago in a fall down a steep staircase, died this morning of complications from the fall.
Borrelli died at about 5:30 a.m. in Erie County Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized in critical condition since the Nov. 8 incident.
The 51-year-old Borrelli was injured while covering a high school football game for The News at All High Stadium. He scaled the approximately dozen metal stairs to the press box, before apparently striking his head on a steel girder and falling backward down the stairs.
The accident left him paralyzed from the neck down and breathing with a respirator. While his family hoped his condition would improve once the swelling went down, Borrelli had several serious setbacks in recent days, before he died.
"The newsroom is in shock," News Managing Editor Howard Smith said. "Tom was a total professional who knew how to do his job and did it as well as anyone can. He was as dedicated to his work as they come, and a first-rate human being. We will miss him terribly."
Among his duties at the News, Borrelli covered the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team, becoming the first sportswriter inducted into the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame.
Survivors include his wife, Karen, a Buffalo News sports department employee; his father, George J. Borrelli, a retired News political reporter; and one brother, Dr. George W.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11:30 a.m. Monday at St. Amelia's Roman Catholic Church, 210 St. Amelia Drive, Town of Tonawanda. The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Amigone Funeral Home, 2600 Sheridan Drive, Town of Tonawanda.
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