News broke today that The Ringer writer and podcaster Jonathan Tjarks died overnight, aged just 34, after a battle with cancer.
Tjarks was diagnosed with an exceedingly rare BCOR sarcoma in April of last year, though didn’t publicly announce his battle until March of this year, when he penned a truly stunning piece about his diagnosis and his relationship with his infant son.
A fortnight ago Tjarks’ wife Melissa announced that her husband’s illness had progressed to the point where he had entered end-of-life palliative care. At that point, the greater NBA community that had come to respect Tjarks’ work so much, a community that had hoped for a miracle, knew the inevitability of his situation.
Tjarks was the original NBA expert for the Ringer when they began in 2016. To my eyes and ears (at this point I was a lifelong hooper, but yet to start my own NBA media journey) Tjarks was a 5’10” speedster with tricky handles and a proclivity for agitating defense (think JJ Barea), given the enthusiasm with which he spoke about guard play and dynamic, creative types. I was genuinely shocked to learn relatively recently that Tjarks was a 6’5” post up monster. Given my own love of watching old clips of Olajuwon and McHale roasting fools on the block, despite being a throwback point guard, I suppose it goes to prove the old adage that all guards want to be big men and all bigs wish they were guards!
A man of faith, Tjarks took solace from his belief in God. Many years ago, a close friend of mine lost his brother to Cystic Fibrosis. He was in his late 30’s and had battled the disease since childhood. At his funeral his wife read out part of a letter than he had penned, where he asked God: ‘Why me? Why couldn’t I run around with the other kids? Why can’t I live a long life? A normal life?’ I can only imagine that, despite his devout nature, Tjarks would have asked similar questions in his darker moments. Nonetheless, he found comfort in the bible.
Tjarks’ writing and analysis were top-notch. His takes were generally spot on and when they did miss – none of us get it right all of the time – he was humble enough to own it, which we can’t say of everybody in our industry.
Jonathan Tjarks was not somebody that 99% of the people who read this piece will have ever met, myself included. That’s a shame. He always struck me as a fun guy to be around. A genuine hoops tragic who would have marvelled that he was getting paid to talk to people about basketball, something that he would have gladly done for free.
Tjarks is survived by his wife, Melissa, and son, Jackson.
Vale Jonathan Tjarks.
1987-2022
If you wish to, you can assist the Tjarks family via this GoFundMe page.
