Behind Kirk Herbstreit’s familiar game-day presence was a loss that left him struggling to find his footing. On November 7, 2024, he announced that Ben, his beloved dog and a familiar face around football, had died following a battle with cancer. Fans had grown attached to Ben through countless game days. Two years later, Herbstreit opened up about how difficult those days truly were.

While speaking with Taylor and Will on the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast, Herbstreit recalled that Ben passed away in the middle of the season while he was covering the Bengals-Ravens game. He immediately rushed home, and they took Ben to a holistic doctor in hopes of saving him.

The very next day, Herbstreit flew to Baltimore for work, while his son took Ben to the veterinarian. There, they received the heartbreaking news: Ben had to be put down. Herbstreit later revealed that his son had to FaceTime him so he could say one final goodbye to Ben.

“My dogs are like family. Like, I treat them like people, you know? Like, they’re not dogs to me. So it was very tough. That was a very tough thing. But the next game we’re doing is LSU-Alabama. So I did Ravens-Bengals Thursday. I fly home on Fridays. When my son was at Cincinnati St. Xavier, go to his game,” said Kirk Herbstreit.

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During that difficult time, Kirk Herbstreit was juggling two demanding jobs. While calling Thursday night games for Amazon Prime Video, he was also working as a college football analyst for ESPN. Amid the constant travel between states, he was also forced to cope with the heartbreaking loss of his best friend.

Ben wasn’t just a dog around football; he quickly became an icon in his own right. A familiar face on ESPN’s College GameDay and Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, he tagged along on team buses, sat patiently through production meetings, and even wandered into the broadcast booth.

When Herbstreit began bringing him along regularly in 2023, Ben didn’t take long to steal the spotlight and win the hearts of fans everywhere. The Atlanta Falcons even started calling him a “wide receiver” during a Week 5 Thursday Night Football game, while the Miami Dolphins dubbed him their “Chief Happiness Officer of Football.”

His loss rocked the nation. Fans mourned his passing, teams paid tribute to him during their games, and even former POTUS Joe Biden wrote a letter to Herbstreit expressing his condolences over the loss of his beloved companion.

The following week, after Ben’s passing, Herbstreit brought Ben’s younger brother, a golden retriever named Peter, along for the Eagles-Commanders TNF game as his new travel companion. Since then, Peter has continued to carry on the legacy his big brother left behind.