Darian Daily, the longest-tenured head groundskeeper in Paul Brown Stadium history, suddenly passed away Saturday afternoon.
Daily, 45, suffered a medical emergency while painting the football field at Taylor High School in Cleves, Ohio.
Daily ran the PBS operation since 2003 after he served as director of stadium grounds for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer. A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he began his career on the grounds crew of the Winston Salem Spirits, a Chicago Cubs Single-A affiliate. A former board member of the Sports Turf Managers Association, Daily was a recipient of the Dick Ericson Founders Award in 2011 for his expertise at PBS.
"The news of Darian's passing is tragic to the entire Bengals organization, and also I know to his colleagues with Hamilton County," said Bengals public relations director Jack Brennan.
"Darian was not only a very hard worker, someone who had earned high honors for his work, he was a great individual -- enthusiastic, helpful, fun to be around. He will be missed in a very personal sense as well as a professional one. He had been with the County in the PBS groundskeeper position for more than 10 years. Our sympathy goes out to Darian's family and to his many friends."
NBC planned to mention Daily during Sunday night's broadcast of the Bengals' pre-season game in Jacksonville.
