Kevin DiCicco, Creator of ‘Air Bud,’ Dies at 63 After COPD Battle
Kevin DiCicco found a stray dog near his cabin in Yosemite, California, in 1989. He brought him home, named him Buddy, and trained him to play basketball, baseball, football, and soccer.
That decision launched one of the most recognizable family film franchises in movie history — but DiCicco himself saw almost none of the financial rewards.
DiCicco, the creator of the Air Bud franchise, died Saturday in San Diego. He was 63. His brother, Mark DiCicco, confirmed the death to TMZ.
DiCicco had been in hospice care in his final days. The cause of death was advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, known as COPD.
COPD “is an ongoing lung condition caused by damage to the lungs,” according to the Mayo Clinic. It often results in swelling and irritation, also called inflammation, inside the airways that can limit airflow into and out of the lungs.
DiCicco’s COPD required him to use an oxygen tank to breathe.
From a Stray Dog to a Movie Franchise
What started as a man teaching his rescue dog to play sports quickly became something bigger.
DiCicco and Buddy appeared on America’s Funniest Home Videos and David Letterman’s Stupid Pet Tricks, catching the attention of the entertainment industry.
“My obsession with sport, and his obsession with ball playing, the combination of the two, created this tremendous canine athlete,” DiCicco said of Buddy in a 2024 interview with NBC News.
DiCicco worked with independent producer Keystone Entertainment to develop the concept into a film. Miramax acquired the distribution rights to Air Bud, and Disney, Miramax’s parent company at the time, released the film to video.
The original 1997 film follows Buddy, a runaway circus dog who befriends a boy named Josh and helps lead his school’s basketball team to a championship.
The franchise grew to 14 films released between 1997 and 2013, including five original Air Bud movies focusing on the basketball-playing dog and nine spin-off films centered around his pups.
DiCicco earned 11 credits across the franchise for creating the character.
Buddy died in 1998, but DiCicco bred and trained three of Buddy’s offspring for future films.
A sixth original film, Air Bud Returns, is set for a theatrical release on August 21, 2026.
A Franchise Fortune He Never Saw
Despite the franchise’s reach and longevity, DiCicco said he saw little financial benefit from its success.
“They are so cleverly crafted to make sure that these films don’t really ever receive the big money,” DiCicco said in a 2024 interview with Fox 5 San Diego. “That’s why we now find ourselves in a position of instead of enjoying those twilight years and sliding into retirement, we’re almost having to start over.”
DiCicco lost his job as a property manager during the COVID-19 pandemic. He became homeless and developed severe clinical depression — all while battling the lung disease that would eventually take his life.
“With pretty much nothing in your pocket and in a dire situation is exactly what happened. I think the worst part of it … is the severe clinical depression that goes along with it,” DiCicco told NBC News.
His story is a stark contrast to the feel-good franchise he built: a man who rescued a stray dog, turned him into a movie star, and created a beloved series spanning more than a decade — yet spent his final years struggling to survive.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
