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Just a few weeks before they go off the Turner airwaves, the ‘Inside the NBA’ team is in mourning after the loss of a crewmember that worked behind the scenes.
Kevin Thomas, who worked as a stagehand on the popular basketball show, recently passed away.
As a number of those who work on the show stood behind the desk, Johnson broke the news to the public.
‘You’re looking at our Inside the NBA crew, it’s as close as you can possibly get to a family in the workplace,’ the 68-year-old Johnson began.
‘And our family is hurting tonight, because we lost a brother of ours this week.
‘Kevin Thomas was one of the stagehands here in Studio J, been here for 30 years. And he was one great teammate.
Ernie Johnson fought back tears as he honored a recently passed member of ‘Inside the NBA’
Kevin Thomas, a crew member on the popular show, passed away at the age of 70
‘You may not have known him, but you’d seen him. He was a part of a lot of the skits we cooked up.’
While Johnson continued, images of Thomas taking part in the show’s hilarious sketches played behind him – drawing chuckles from the crew and some of Johnson’s co-hosts.
‘The dude had a joyous sense of humor and a kindness about him that simply drew you in,’ Johnson said, over an image of Thomas pretending to grind off Shaquille O’Neal’s toenails. ‘Whenever we needed something, ‘You know what, that’s calling for Kevin.’ ‘
The former NBA stars also chimed in with their tributes to their late co-worker, whose cause of death was not immediately known.
‘Inside’ analyst Charles Barkley offered some of his thought on Thomas as well.
‘Death is so sudden,’ Barkley said. ‘You are with somebody one day and then you get the call the next day that they’re gone.
‘We were all in shock when we got the message the other day. Man, what a fun dude. I admired him, I respected him. He did anything that we asked him to do.
‘The world is a sadder place without Kevin not here, he was just a really good dude and we’re going to miss him.’
Shaquille O’Neal (seen being put in a camel clutch by Thomas) recalled hearing of his death
O’Neal talked about the moment when he first heard the news of Thomas’ passing: ‘When they told me the other day, I heard it but I didn’t want to hear it I said, ‘Who?’ They said, ‘Kevin.’ My Kevin?’
Johnson closed the somber segment by further honoring the beloved member of the show.
‘He was one of those guys who came to work with a smile on his face,’ Johnson said, and his voice broke as he tapped his pen on the desk in sad frustration.
‘He was 70,’ Johnson said, and added that he is survived by his wife, son and four grandchildren.
‘We pray in this time that is unspeakably difficult they can somehow find comfort and peace knowing how that husband, that father, that grandfather was loved and respected. The studio will never be the same.’
