Super Bowl reporter Adan Manzano was a rising star. His colleagues are mourning his unexpected death

Sports reporter Adan Manzano was a rising star at Telemundo Kansas City who was thrilled to once again be covering his home team in the Super Bowl.

“I think his dream was to report from the sidelines a third time, and to also see a three-peat win for the Kansas City Chiefs. He wanted to celebrate with them,” said his colleague Ely Martinez, creative services director at Telemundo Kansas City.

But Manzano never made it to the game. He died Wednesday while on assignment to cover the Super Bowl in New Orleans, his employer Telemundo Kansas City confirmed. He was 27.

Manzano was in town to report on the event for Telemundo Kansas City and Tico Sport. Details of his death are unclear, but a Louisiana woman was arrested on Friday after allegedly using Manzano’s credit card at various stores in the area, the Associated Press reported.

“Adan was a true professional and a rising star, who exemplified excellence in his work,” Telemundo Kansas City said in a Facebook post. “We will deeply miss Adan and his passion for sports and the contributions he made to the local community.”

Originally from Mexico City, Manzano had been living in Topeka, Kan., since 2018. He earned his degree from Kansas State University and joined Telemundo Kansas City (KGKC-TV) in 2021. Prior to that, he was a freelance writer with La Semana del Sur and sports commentator for Reyes Media Group, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Telemundo Kansas City General Manager Steve Downing said Manzano’s passion for sports shined through his work.

“ When he covered sports, it was always beyond the result of a game or a score line or an event,” said Downing. “He always added his own personal touch and color to it.”

“Adan was a true professional and a rising star, who exemplified excellence in his work,” Telemundo Kansas City said in a Facebook post.

(Telemundo Kansas City)

The two met in a press box at a Sporting KC event, where Manzano was covering the MLS team with another local news group. Downing approached him about coming to work at the station, which had begun its local operations in 2018.

Despite Manzano’s limited experience reporting on-camera, Downing was impressed by his tenacity during a screening test.

“It was a one-shot take and he was good, perfect in my opinion. He didn’t stumble,” said Downing.

The unexpected passing has impacted the small newsroom, where staffers said he was more than a colleague.

“Adan was a wonderful person from the day I met him. He had a lot of passion and talent,” Martinez said. “We will miss him, not just for his professional journalism but also for his ability to illuminate every room he walked into.”

In a segment by KSNT released last year, Manzano shared his love for American football, a sport he grew to enjoy after moving to the U.S. His Spanish-language coverage helped connect new viewers to the game he loved.

“People actually reach out to our company and appreciate that we actually speak in their language,” Manzano said.

Having covered the Super Bowl from a broadcast booth in 2023, he expressed gratitude for the opportunity to report from the sideline last year.

“I used to dream about this, but I never expected that it was going to come that soon,” said Manzano.

News of Manzano’s death comes less than a year after his wife, Ashleigh Boyd, was killed in a head-on collision in April, according to Topeka’s WIBW radio station.

The couple leave behind their 2-year old daughter, Eleanor.