Don Schlitz, Country Music Legend, Dies at 73

Don Schlitz, the songwriter and performer best known for penning the iconic hit The Gambler, has died at 73.

Schlitz's death was announced Friday in a statement by the Grand Ole Opry, according to Page Six.

He was said to have died after a sudden illness, though his cause of death was not disclosed.

'We are heartbroken by the news of the passing of Don Schlitz. Don loved his family, his home state of and, above all, songs and songwriters,' said Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern in the statement. 'He carried that love into every room, every stage and every lyric he ever wrote.' 

Trahern recounted a dinner she attended with Schlitz, at the end of which he 'picked up a guitar and began to play.'

'That is how I will always remember him, smiling and with a guitar in his hand,' she continued. 'His legacy lives on through his music and the many artists and writers he inspired. He will be deeply missed.'

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young added: 'Don Schlitz’s place as a songwriting great would be secure had he never written The Gambler or had he only written The Gambler. Nashville was richer for his presence and is lesser for his absence.'

Schlitz, who was born in 1952 in Durham, North Carolina, sealed his status as a star of country music when he wrote The Gambler in 1976.

The song, which he later said was inspired by the death of his father that year, took two years for him to pitch it around Nashville before it was first recorded by Bobby Bare. 

For his contributions, Schlitz was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame; pictured in 2012 in Nashville, Tenn.