It is with a heavy heart that 97.1 The Ticket shares the news that Kenny Kott, a beloved member of The Valenti Show with Rico, has passed away due to medical complications.
Mike Valenti opened Monday's show letting the listeners know that "we're heartbroken."
Valenti shared that Kenny had a medical event in early June that left him hospitalized for the last few weeks. "It took a turn for the worse, and he passed away on Saturday night" at the age of 32.
"Genuinely, I struggle to find the words for this," said Valenti. "He’s a part of our dysfunctional family. That’s what this is."
A producer for 97.1 The Ticket and on-air contributor to The Valenti Show, Kenny was known for his fierce passion for Detroit's sports teams, in particular the Red Wings, his deep knowledge of the NHL, his buoyant personality and his hearty laugh. He got married last summer.
"I just want you to know what we truly thought of Kenny, beyond the jokes and the ball-breaking and the rest," said Valenti. "I would always bust his chops, like, 'Man, what do you want out of life? What is it you want, so I can help deliver this? And he would always say, 'No, I just always wanted to be part of a radio show.' And I'd say, 'OK, well, you did that, and you’re part of the best one. So what’s next?'
"I would always push him, and I said this to his wife: the reason I pushed him so hard is because I believed in him more than he believed in himself."
Co-producer David 'Hatchetman' Hull said that Kenny was someone he turned to in trying times.
"Kenny and I sat in that (producer's) box every day together, so we talked a lot about life, family, and it has been six years since I began working with him. Recently, I had a very personal loss and I leaned on Kenny a lot because he had dealt with a similar loss. I would call him outside of this place, we would talk, he would let me know that things are going to be OK. Even when I wasn’t having the best of days, he would let me know, 'It’s alright -- we’re a team.'"
"I’m going to miss him," David added. "I’m going to miss the 'Hockey Elite' information that man had. It’s a huge loss for us, because as Mike said, we are a team. We get on each other, we get at each other, but we all love each other, and that’s the important part. We loved Kenny, and we’re definitely going to miss him."
