I wasn’t supposed to be in media, but I guess you could say I fell into the family business.

I grew up loving music and wanted to be a musician… specifically, I wanted to be a rock musician. I got a Bachelor of Arts in Music and moved to L.A. to intern at a record company, Chrysalis Records, hoping that’d be my foot in the door to becoming a celebrated musician.

Yea, right.

The internship fell through and I stayed in SoCal for three decades, but it wasn’t music that I worked in, but media… sports media to be exact.

My career has seen me go from Student Sports to ESPN to FloSports to Full Count Softball to Extra Inning Softball to Line Drive Media (the later three being fastpitch softball-focused websites which I started).

Now, why is that relevant?

Let me shine the light on my family background to make more sense of it.

I was adopted at birth and raised in Central Ohio by the best parents you could ever wish for, Jack and June Eads.

I grew up on a 5-acre farm and an idyllic upbringing with all the love and support I could ever want… I was so blessed and I’m so, so grateful for it.

Story has it that when I was a little lad, I asked where babies came from. My mom explained and my follow up question was an unusual one:

“Is that where I came from?”

“No,” she said softly, “you came to us in a different way.”

… and that’s how I found out I was adopted.

I believe my next question was very profound for a 6-year-old:

“Cool, Mom, thanks… so what’s for dinner?”

Thus, I knew growing up that I was adopted and had no reason to find my birth parents, really… but nagging questions arose:

• Are there health issues in my DNA I must worry about?
• Where am I from… my ancestors and my genealogy? Am I related to anyone famous? Or Infamous?
• What will I look like when I’m older? Will I still have my natural hair—and teeth– at 30? 40? 50? (you know, the really important questions).

As I got older and became a parent, the questions of health in my background became increasingly louder in my head… like “Would my kids have any issues?” And “Is there anything to fear or look out for in terms of cancer or other fearful diseases?

So, in my late 20’s, I decided to search for my birth parents. I hired a detective agency that specialized in finding birth parents and the company I used found my birth mom in less than a week.

I would ultimately meet my birth mom and learn some of the answers I was looking for (eerie side note: she never knew my name when I was handed over to the hospital staff, yet years later she would give birth to a son and name him… “Brent.”)

Cue the Twilight Zone music.

I would later find my birth father, too, and learn that his name was John Huddy and that he was very accomplished in the field of… media.

Not sports media, like I gravitated to, but entertainment media specifically.

I would find out in time that he was a movie critic, a TV producer on the “Tomorrow Show” hosted by Tom Snyder (for you older folks who may remember that show) and even wrote a book called Storming Las Vegas which was a New York Times best seller (sold over 750,000 copies). Columbia/Sony was interested in making it into a movie and bought the rights.

Here’s a bio that his book publisher created:

John Huddy, a network producer and print journalist for three decades, has won two Emmys for editorial writing and on-air commentary and other national awards for producing, newswriting, and documentary filmmaking.

Huddy is a former Miami Herald columnist and critic whose print and broadcast subjects have included Charles Manson, Federico Fellini, O. J. Simpson, Steve Martin, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Burt Reynolds.

Earlier in his life, John married a beautiful young dancer named Erica and they would go on to have two very talented kids—a son named John Trevor and a daughter named Juliet who both would become stars in their own right in the media world.

John Trevor worked at Fox as an in-field reporter in places like the Middle East and Juliet would host “Fox & Friends” at the Fox News Channel as well as work at major radio and TV stations in New York City.

A strong media family, indeed.

However, John Sr. (as I called him) had health issues including receiving a heart transplant 15 years ago and, thanks to a knee replacement, he wasn’t able to exercise or do much to keep in shape.

With his health issues, he moved in with me, my wife Shannon and my son Ashton, almost exactly a year ago–Dec. 8, 2025–and continued working on more projects in media including having five offers to do documentaries on the true-life happenings detailed in Storming Last Vegas.

Yesterday—Wednesday—as I was returning from Texas where I spent time with family for Thanksgiving, John had problems breathing and, before I was picked up at the airport at 4 pm by my son, John called 911 and was taken to the ER and then to a local hospital.

He was transferred last night to one that had better heart care and more knowledgeable doctors, but it was too late to help him.

At 8 am this morning, John had a massive heart attack and, though saved by CPR and quick-thinking medical care, it was apparent that his time in mortality was quickly drawing to a close.

A nurse called Shannon and told her that “John was actively trying to die,” meaning his body was shutting down.

I hurried to the hospital and when I rushed into his ICU room, he whispered to me: “Make them (the doctors) stop, make them stop hurting me.”

I was able to reach out to John Trevor and Juliet and, via FaceTime, they were able to say goodbye to their father. John Trevor, who lives in Florida,  immediately jumped on a plane and will arrive later tonight.

John’s heart began pumping less and less blood throughout his body and I held his hand as he drifted into unconsciousness.

At 10:12 am Mountain Standard Time, John Huddy was pronounced deceased.

He was 82 and lived a lot longer than many anticipated, but when you have a very clear and detailed conversation with someone the night before they pass through the veil of death, it doesn’t make sense in some ways.

I stayed in his ICU room for a few minutes to contemplate what had happened so suddenly.

It was a reminder that things in our lives can change so quickly.

I drove from the hospital in downtown Boise to my son’s high school and had him pulled from class so I could tell him.

He was stunned and said, “I just need to process this.” He chose to stay and be surrounded by friends at school as he–like all of us–are pondering the finality of today’s events.

I want to thank so many wonderful people in the softball world who’ve reached out with words of love, support and encouragement. It was very, very appreciated… thank you so much.

Also, thanks to Grace White, our Line Drive Social Media Specialist, who put notes on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram explaining the situation.

Many have asked how I’m doing. I’ve said simply:

“I’m at peace and now have closure, not having to worry about my dad suffering anymore.”

The shock is still very strong at the sudden turn of events—shoot, just last weekend John and I were talking college football and the upcoming Big Ten Conference Championship football game between Ohio State and Indiana.

Now, that doesn’t matter so much… but I’ll watch it and think of him.

It’s funny: my first reaction when all this happened was to jump into writing and publishing a softball story, my place where I am happy and feel connected with so many people.

Now, I’m into taking care of a lot of post-death details like funeral home pickup, cremation procedures, collecting personal effects and who gets what and so on.

Not fun.

Again, let me stress that I’m OK and will be OK and, if anything, this experience has once again shown me how wonderful people are in my life—including so many of you amazing folks following and involved with this wonderful sport that ties us all together… softball.

A final note that’s obvious, but never as much than in a day like today for me: give your loved ones an extra long, extra firm hug. If you’ve had spats with anyone close to you, take the first step in offering a gesture of peace.

You may not get that chance to say goodbye like you may want to.

—  Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball
brentt.eads@linedrivemedia.com, 310-918-4216