Longtime University of Tennessee sportswriter Wes Rucker was killed in a car crash on Interstate 40 in Knoxville on Thursday. He was 43.
Rucker, who had worked for 247 Sports covering Tennessee and was writing for WBIR, was involved in a chain-reaction crash in the westbound lanes of the highway. According to the Knoxville Police Department, a driver rear-ended a vehicle to set off a wreck that involved five vehicles.
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“The investigation has revealed that a vehicle was stopped for traffic when it was rear-ended by another vehicle, resulting in minor damage,” the police department said in a statement. “Another vehicle then struck the second vehicle, setting off a chain reaction. Seconds later, a large pickup truck ran into and on top of an involved vehicle, fatally injuring the adult male driver of the vehicle it collided with.”
Rucker and his wife, Lauren, had a son, Hank, and Lauren is due to give birth to a girl this spring. In a post on WBIR’s website, the station said, “Lauren has asked WBIR to pass on her thanks for the prayers and support. She wants everyone to know how wonderful he was as a husband, father, son, brother and friend.”
Tributes to Rucker poured in across social media after news of his death emerged on Thursday evening. Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes opened his news conference Friday with remarks about Rucker.
“It’s heartbreaking, it really is, just heartbreaking,” Barnes said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to Lauren, son Hank and the one that’s on the way. We just ask that God will place a holy hedge of protection around his family, his entire family. Wes was a wonderful person.”
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