{"id":28875,"date":"2025-06-02T14:04:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T14:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=28875"},"modified":"2025-06-02T15:28:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T15:28:48","slug":"john-brenkus-who-merged-sports-and-science-on-tv-dies-at-53","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=28875","title":{"rendered":"John Brenkus, Who Merged Sports and Science on TV, Dies at 53"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p id=\"article-summary\" class=\"css-79rysd e1wiw3jv0\">His \u201cSport Science\u201d program was whimsical and fun, showing how golfers can drive balls so far and how snowboarders\u2019 quad flips generated G-forces.<\/p>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">John Brenkus, the creator and host of the show \u201cSport Science,\u201d which explored the physics and mechanics of sports and athletes, died on Saturday. He was 53.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His death was announced <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/brinx.tv\/\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">in a statement<\/a> by Brinx TV, the media production company he founded. Mr. Brenkus \u201chad been battling depression,\u201d the statement said. \u201cJohn lost his fight with this terrible illness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Brinx and ESPN did not immediately respond to requests for further details or comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSport Science\u201d appeared on Fox Sports Network starting in 2007, and then on ESPN into the 2010s, winning six Emmys. Mr. Brenkus gained a following with his energetic personality as the show demonstrated sports through scientific principles and concepts, and science through sports, with engaging segments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Brenkus\u2019s program was also whimsical and fun. He showed <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZS8xaWleuRk\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">how golfers<\/a> were able to drive balls such great distances, how snowboarders\u2019 quad flips generated a force of four Gs and the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bYdR5kMzqJo\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">physics of Wiffle balls<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"Dropzone-1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He subjected the N.F.L. running back Saquon Barkley to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/video\/clip?id=20289703\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">various weather conditions<\/a> in a laboratory, drenching him with water and setting the temperature from 20 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. (Mr. Barkley barely slowed down.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/IAmA\/comments\/6bxer5\/im_john_brenkus_hostcreator_of_espns_sport\/\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Asked on a Reddit<\/a> forum eight years ago about his favorite segment, he cited a piece on the contact between ball and bat in Major League Baseball. \u201cYou could, theoretically, let go of the bat .001 seconds before contact and the ball will travel just as far,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Brenkus was born and raised in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2008 he was the executive producer of \u201cCrime 360,\u201d a show that followed real criminal investigations as they progressed. In 2010, his book \u201cThe Perfection Point\u201d made the New York Times best-seller list. It calculated the limits of athletic performance, concluding that theoretically humans could run the 100-meter dash in 8.99 seconds, complete a marathon in 1:57:58 and dunk a basketball in a hoop 14 feet 5 inches off the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">A complete obituary will follow.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"RelatedLinksBlock-3\">\n<div data-testid=\"lazy-loader\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>His \u201cSport Science\u201d program was whimsical and fun, showing how golfers can drive balls so far and how snowboarders\u2019 quad flips generated G-forces.John Brenkus, the creator and host of the show \u201cSport Science,\u201d which explored the physics and mechanics of sports and athletes, died on Saturday. He was 53.His death was announced in a statement by Brinx TV, the media production company he founded. Mr. Brenkus \u201chad been battling depression,\u201d the statement said. \u201cJohn lost his fight with this terrible illness.\u201dBrinx and ESPN did not immediately respond to requests for further details or comment.\u201cSport Science\u201d appeared on Fox Sports Network starting in 2007, and then on ESPN into the 2010s, winning six Emmys. Mr. Brenkus gained a following with his energetic personality as the show demonstrated sports through scientific principles and concepts, and science through sports, with engaging segments.Mr. Brenkus\u2019s program was also whimsical and fun. He showed how golfers were able to drive balls such great distances, how snowboarders\u2019 quad flips generated a force of four Gs and the physics of Wiffle balls.He subjected the N.F.L. running back Saquon Barkley to various weather conditions in a laboratory, drenching him with water and setting the temperature from 20 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. (Mr. Barkley barely slowed down.)Asked on a Reddit forum eight years ago about his favorite segment, he cited a piece on the contact between ball and bat in Major League Baseball. \u201cYou could, theoretically, let go of the bat .001 seconds before contact and the ball will travel just as far,\u201d he said.Mr. Brenkus was born and raised in Washington, D.C.In 2008 he was the executive producer of \u201cCrime 360,\u201d a show that followed real criminal investigations as they progressed. In 2010, his book \u201cThe Perfection Point\u201d made the New York Times best-seller list. It calculated the limits of athletic performance, concluding that theoretically humans could run the 100-meter dash in 8.99 seconds, complete a marathon in 1:57:58 and dunk a basketball in a hoop 14 feet 5 inches off the ground.A complete obituary will follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28877,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28875"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28878,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28875\/revisions\/28878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}