Country Music Star's Death From Coronavirus Stings Titans GM
NASHVILLE – The death of Joe Diffie made headlines in this town.
And for Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson, it hit a little too close to home.
Diffie passed away Sunday due to complications from coronavirus. The 61-year-old had a series of country music hits, including five that went to No. 1, during the 1990s and into the early 2000s. His passing came two days after he publicly revealed that he had been diagnosed with the disease.
“He was a guy that I had just met last November at the CMA Awards,” Robinson said Wednesday. “It was during our bye week. So, my wife and I went and got to spend a little bit of time with him. He was just a regular guy who talked about football. He wanted to talk to me about football and not about music, and he loved the Titans. It was just really, really – as a kid growing up listening to all his songs, it was a pretty cool moment to meet him and spend some time with him.
“Then to see how that went so fast over this past weekend was just kind of shocking.”
Like everyone else who works for one of the NFL’s 32 franchises, Robinson, a Tennessee native, has had to make adjustments in recent weeks as the pandemic began its spread throughout the United States. He works from home these days and conducts nearly all of his daily business on the phone or via video chat.
He noted that the Titans closed their executive offices several days ahead of the league’s mandate to do so. And, he said, as far as he knows no one who works for the team has been diagnosed with coronavirus.
That does not mean he has not experienced its impact first-hand.
“The first thing I do in the morning is put the news on and see if there’s any new developments to help fight this thing,” Robinson said. “I’m not that old, I talked to my grandmother last night just to check on her. She’s in her late-80s, and she said it’s nothing like she has ever seen, and she’s been on this rock a lot longer than I have.
“To hear that coming from her, I think that – we’re in a difficult time right now.”
