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On Wednesday afternoon, The Fan's Dan (Common Man) Cole broke into the patter of his early-afternoon show with the news that longtime WCCO-TV sportscaster Ralph Jon Fritz had died. Cole's regular guest, WCCO's Mark Rosen, said that he knew Fritz had died but wasn't ready to talk about it on the air,

Later in the day, Rosen shared his thoughts about Fritz during a newscast on Ch. 4.

"He was so genuine and never got caught up in the hype of this business, the glamour of it," Rosen said of Fritz, who grew up in the small town of Sleepy Eye, Minn.

Twin Cities media and sports fans turned to social media to share thoughts and memories of Fritz, who died of cancer at age 78.

Here's the story on Fritz's death from Wednesday night's Ch. 4 news.