It was during the deadline crunch Thursday night when venerable sports writer Dennis C. Way caught my attention and desperately motioned for me to venture into the quasi-office of the Sports Department.

At first I resisted, as the nightly fire drill was in full throttle, but Dennis had a serious look on his face and rare sense of urgency when he motioned for me to come see his computer.

At first, I thought he had one of his meltdowns that ate a story. Either that, or thing was finally catching fire.

When I got within viewing distance of his computer screen, Dennis pointed at the story he had just seen on the wire from The Associated Press.

All I could make out, at first, were the words "E Street Band" and "dies."

My first thought was that this couldn't be happening. Unlike Dennis' favorite band, The Rolling Stone, no one in the E Street Band - including its leader, Bruce Springsteen - is knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door.

And all, to my knowledge, they all live lives free of the vices - drugs and alcohol and fast cars - that claim rockers before their natural end.

My heart pounding, I moved closer to see who it was who died.

And, to be brutally honest, my first reaction was one of relief.

It was not Steven Van Zandt, who is one of my favorite all-time musicians independent of the band. It was not Clarence Clemons, the vintage saxophonist. It was not Patti Scialfa, the background singer and mother of Bruce's three kids whose death would surely send Springsteen into an emotional tailspin at a point in his career when his creative juices seems to be flowing again.

But those feelings were replaced with not only guilt, but of sadness.

Dying too soon at the age of 58 of cancer was keyboardist Danny Federici, whose distinctive stylings helped give the E Street Band a musical identity.

The first top 10 hit for Bruce and the boys, "Hungry Heart," was all Danny. His accordion on "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," helped salvage - in my opinion - Bruce's rather uneven second album "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle."

Unlike some more prominent E Street Band members - drummer Max Weinberg, guitar virtuoso Nils Lofgren and piano player Roy Bittan - Federici was with Springsteen from the beginning.

They honed their craft in New Jersey Shore bands - with names like Steel Mill, Dr. Boom and Sonic Boom and Child - and helping shape the now-signature Jersey sound.

He actually gave Bruce a break, asking him to join a band actually playing gigs for cash money.

As time passed and Springsteen's genius emerged, "Phantom Dan" was content to stay in the background and pick his spots to enhance songs and shine.

He was not flamboyant in life, but he is not forgotten in death.

R.I.P., Danny. The E Street Band will never be the same.