Wes Rucker remembered after fatal car crash in Knoxville
Longtime Tennessee sports reporter wes rucker died Feb. 19 in a car crash in Knoxville, and colleagues, fans and fellow journalists quickly filled social media with tributes noting his decades covering the Vols.
Wes Rucker's career in Tennessee sports
Rucker covered Tennessee athletics beginning in 2000, first writing for The Daily Beacon while a student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and later working for outlets including the Farragut Press Enterprise, The (Maryville) Daily Times and the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
He covered Chattanooga athletics for the Chattanooga Times Free Press before transitioning to the Vols beat in 2007, then served as a senior writer for 247Sports. In 2025, Rucker went to work at WBIR-TV in Knoxville as a writer and host.
Tributes flood X after Feb. 19 crash
Tributes for wes rucker flooded X after journalists, Tennessee fans and admirers learned of his death in Knoxville on Feb. 19, with many people highlighting his wit and reporting. The posts on X showed the reach of his work and the connections he built while covering Tennessee athletics since 2000.
Those posts came from a mix of fellow journalists and fans who followed his takes on sports, food and entertainment on social media, and they emphasized the relationships he maintained across the region during a career that spanned multiple local newsrooms.
Remembered as a journalist, husband and father
Colleagues remembered Rucker as a witty, award-winning journalist and noted his roles off the beat as a husband and father. He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and began covering the Vols for the student newspaper in 2000, then moved through several Tennessee newsrooms before joining WBIR in 2025.
Rucker’s work on the Vols beat from 2007 onward and his later coverage for 247Sports and WBIR marked him as a familiar voice on Tennessee athletics for more than two decades.
What comes next
In the days after Feb. 19, tributes on X continued as friends, coworkers and readers shared memories of Rucker’s reporting and personality, underscoring the impact of his years covering Tennessee sports. Further details about services or memorials have not been included in the posts sampled publicly after his death.
