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Author Topic: JUNIOR SEAU - 12 TIME NFL PRO BOWL LINEBACKER FOUND DEAD AT 43  (Read 17802 times)
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texasmom
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« on: May 02, 2012, 08:24:45 PM »

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7882750/former-nfl-linebacker-great-junior-seau-dies-43

Junior Seau dies at 43

Updated: May 2, 2012, 7:59 PM ET
ESPN.com news services

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- Junior Seau, a homegrown superstar who was the fist-pumping, emotional leader of the San Diego Chargers for 13 years, was found shot to death at his home Wednesday morning. He was 43.

Police Chief Frank McCoy said Seau's girlfriend reported finding him unconscious with a gunshot wound to the chest and lifesaving efforts were unsuccessful. A gun was found near him, McCoy said, and police were investigating the possibility that Seau's death was a suicide. Police said no suicide note was found and they didn't immediately know who the gun was registered to.

Seau's death in Oceanside, in northern San Diego County, stunned the region he represented with almost reckless abandon. The same intensity that got the star linebacker ejected for fighting in his first exhibition game helped carry the Chargers to their only Super Bowl, following the 1994 season. A ferocious tackler, he'd leap up, pump a fist and kick out a leg after dropping a ball carrier or quarterback.

"It's a sad thing. It's hard to understand," said Bobby Beathard, who as Chargers general manager took Seau out of Southern California with the fifth pick overall in the 1990 draft. "He was really just a great guy. If you drew up a player you'd love to have the opportunity to draft and have on the team and as a teammate, Junior and Rodney (Harrison), they'd be the kind of guys you'd like to have."

Quarterback Stan Humphries recalled that Seau did everything at the same speed, whether it was practicing, lifting weights or harassing John Elway.

"The intensity, the smile, the infectious attitude, it carried over to all the other guys," said Humphries, who was shocked that Seau is now the eighth player from the '94 Super Bowl team to die.

Seau's mother appeared before reporters outside the former player's house, weeping uncontrollably.

"I don't understand ... I'm shocked," Luisa Seau cried out.

Her son gave no indication of a problem when she spoke to him by phone earlier this week, she said.

"He's joking to me, he called me a 'homegirl,' " she said.

Seau's death follows the suicide last year of former Chicago Bears player Dave Duerson, who also shot himself in the chest.

In October 2010, Seau survived a 100-foot plunge down a seaside cliff in his SUV, hours after he was arrested for investigation of domestic violence at the Oceanside home he shared with his girlfriend. The woman had told authorities that Seau assaulted her during an argument.

There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol involved in the crash and Seau told authorities he fell asleep while driving. He sustained minor injuries.

"I just can't imagine this, because I've never seen Junior in a down frame of mind," Beathard said. "He was always so upbeat and he would keep people up. He practiced the way he played. He made practice fun. He was a coach's dream. He was an amazing guy as well as a player and a person. This is hard to believe."

Seau's ex-wife, Gina, told the Union-Tribune San Diego that he texted her and each of their three children separate messages: "I love you."

"We're all in shock," she said. "We're beyond sad and beyond shocked. The kids and I are just huddled together at home. There is no way to make sense of this."

Seau, who played in the NFL for parts of 20 seasons, is the eighth member of San Diego's lone Super Bowl team who has died, all before the age of 45. Lew Bush, Shawn Lee, David Griggs, Rodney Culver, Doug Miller, Curtis Whitley and Chris Mims are the others.

When Humphries joined the Chargers in a 1992 trade, he said it was obvious Seau was "the person who had the most energy, the most excited, the guy who tried to rally everybody." Humphries said Seau "brought out a lot of youngness" in older players.

He also helped younger players.

"So sad to hear about Jr Seau," tweeted New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who was with San Diego from 2001-05. "Junebug. Buddy. The greatest teammate a young guy could ask for. This is a sad day. He will be missed greatly."

“He wasn't just a football player, he was so much more. He was loved by everyone in our family, our organization and throughout the NFL. This is just such a tragic loss. One of the worst things I could ever imagine. My prayers go out to Junior's family. It's heartbreaking.

--Chargers president Dean Spanos
Chargers president Dean Spanos called Seau an icon and a friend.

"I can't put into words how I'm feeling right now. I'm shocked and devastated," Spanos said in a statement. "Junior was my friend. We all lost a friend today. Junior was an icon in our community. He transcended the game. He wasn't just a football player; he was so much more. He was loved by everyone in our family, our organization and throughout the NFL.

"This is just such a tragic loss. One of the worst things I could ever imagine. My prayers go out to Junior's family. It's heartbreaking."

Seau called many of those around him "Buddy" and often referred to teammates as "my players."

"As a young linebacker, Junior was my hero growing up and once I had the opportunity meet him I saw that he was everything I hoped he would be and more," former Dolphin Zach Thomas said in a statement. "Getting the chance to play alongside of Junior Seau, the greatest linebacker to ever play the game, made my dreams come true. I am absolutely devastated to hear this news. Today I lost my hero, my friend, my buddy."

Jason Taylor, who also played with Thomas and Seau on the Dolphins, said he was "devastated."

"It would be easy for me to say he was a great friend and teammate, and a tremendous competitor, but that would be selling Junior short," Taylor said in a statement. "Junior Seau was an individual of great honor and integrity, a leader of men and someone with a deep-rooted passion for giving of himself to make the people, the community and especially the children around him better. This is an immeasurable loss for so many. My heart and prayers go out to Junior's family, Gina and their children. I'm going to miss you buddy."

Commissioner Roger Goodell sent his condolences to the Seau family on Twitter and NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith said, "The NFLPA player family today joins with the Seau family to mourn a brother lost too soon."

USC athletic director Pat Haden called Seau "one of the greatest legends" in school history.

"He will always be remembered by USC as the original No. 55," Haden said in a statement.

Seau's greatest game may have been in the 17-13 victory at Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game in January 1995 that sent the Chargers to the Super Bowl. Playing through the pain of a pinched nerve in his neck, he spread out his 16 tackles from the first play to the second-to-last. San Diego was routed 49-26 in the Super Bowl by San Francisco.

 ::snipping2::

"Junior was a fierce competitor whose passion and work ethic lifted his teammates to greater heights. His enthusiasm for the game was infectious and he passed that on to everyone who was around him. He loved the game so much, and no one played with more sheer joy," Dolphins CEO Mike Dee said in a statement.

"Junior was one-of-a-kind. The league will never see anyone like him again," Dee said.

 ::snipping2::

"Today, the fans of the teams for which Junior played -- San Diego, Miami and New England -- lost more than a legendary football player. We lost our 'Buddy.' "

Seau's last season was 2009 and last fall, finally retired for good, he was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame.

"Twenty years, to be part of this kind of fraternity, to be able to go out and play the game that you love, and all the lessons and the friends and acquaintances which you meet along the way, you can't be in a better arena," Seau said in August.

More than 100 people gathered outside of Seau's home, only hours after he was found dead. Families showed up with flowers and fans wearing Chargers jerseys waited to get news.

Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres held a moment of silence for Seau before their game Wednesday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Several hours after Seau was found, his body was loaded onto a medical examiner's van and taken away as fans snapped pictures and raised their hands in the air as if in prayer.

Family friend Priscilla Sanga said about 50 friends and family members gathered in the garage where Seau's body lay on a gurney and they had the opportunity to say goodbye.

"Everybody got to see Junior before they took him away," Sanga said. "He looked so peaceful and cold. It was disbelief. We all touched him and kissed him."
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I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
texasmom
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ARUBA: It's all about Natalee...we won't give up!


« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2012, 09:06:24 PM »

https://www.facebook.com/pages/RIP-Junior-Seau-FB-Tribute-Fanpage/350711778322795



https://www.facebook.com/pages/Junior-Seau/194163280897?sk=photos





Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
texasmom
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ARUBA: It's all about Natalee...we won't give up!


« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2012, 09:37:41 PM »

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/sports/football/junior-seau-famed-nfl-linebacker-dies-at-43-in-apparent-suicide.html

Junior Seau, Famed N.F.L. Linebacker, Dies at 43; Suicide Is Suspected

By GREG BISHOP and ROB DAVIS
Published: May 2, 2012

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Behind the police tape, a white coroner’s van sat in front of a garage on the 600 block of South The Strand. It waited to collect the body of Junior Seau, a linebacker among the most feared in N.F.L. history, father to three teenagers, son to the mother who wailed long and loud on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, according to the Oceanside Police, Seau’s girlfriend went to the gym. When she returned, she found Seau in a bedroom, a gunshot wound to the chest, a revolver found near his body but not a note. He was 43.

The police are investigating Seau’s death as a suicide, Lieutenant Leonard Mata said, adding that they do not expect to finish the investigation until next week.

Seau was the second former N.F.L. player to commit suicide in the past two weeks. Ray Easterling, a safety for the Atlanta Falcons in the 1970s and a plaintiff in a high-profile lawsuit against the N.F.L. over its handling of concussion-related injuries, died on April 19 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In February 2011, the former Chicago Bears star Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest, saying in a note that he wanted his brain donated to the study of football head injuries.

As word of Seau’s death spread through the city he long called home, the crowd swelled outside of the police tape, fans clad in Seau jerseys and San Diego Chargers caps, carrying flowers and lighted candles and homemade signs.

At 1:17 p.m., or roughly four hours after Seau’s girlfriend called police, after officials said they performed “life-saving efforts” on an unconscious Seau in his bedroom, dozens of family and friends surrounded the coroner’s white van. The back door opened. Seau’s body was placed inside. As the van inched slowly down the street, through a crowd that numbered in the hundreds, Seau’s mother, Luisa, threw her hands in the air and screamed.

“Seau’s last ride,” one onlooker noted.

“I don’t understand,” his mother said.

Outside the house with the brick front and chairs upstairs on the deck pointed at the nearby ocean, they tried to make sense of Seau and what happened and could not. Here was a linebacker who played 20 seasons in the N.F.L. for three teams, who made 12 Pro Bowls and went to two Super Bowls and was named to the 1990s All-Decade Team by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Here was a man who grew up here, played college ball close by at Southern California, starred close by with the Chargers for much of his professional career. Here was a man who never really left the place he came from, who directed many of his philanthropic efforts in the community where he grew up. Here was a man with three teenage children: a daughter, Sydney, and two sons, Jake and Hunter, at least one of whom was at the home Wednesday.

 ::snipping2::
Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
texasmom
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ARUBA: It's all about Natalee...we won't give up!


« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2012, 09:58:15 PM »

Junior Seau's mother and sister speak to the media.

Heartbreaking...   Crying or Very sad

http://youtu.be/VXmzXnnQRXY

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/VXmzXnnQRXY?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/VXmzXnnQRXY?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;rel=0</a>
Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
sharon
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« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2012, 07:22:39 AM »

RIP #55 Sad

Thank you for your tremendous contribution to Pro Football. And sportsmanship.

Fly with the angels, Junior.
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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has!" Margaret Mead
texasmom
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ARUBA: It's all about Natalee...we won't give up!


« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2012, 09:05:21 PM »

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/03/sport/nfl-seau-autopsy/index.html

Junior Seau's death classified as a suicide

By Alan Duke and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN
May 3, 2012 -- Updated 2336 GMT (0736 HKT)

Los Angeles (CNN) -- The San Diego County medical examiner's office Thursday classified the death of former NFL linebacker Junior Seau as a suicide, but the finding will probably do little to answer questions swirling since he was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.

Toxicology results and the narrative that could reveal contributing factors in the death could take weeks or longer to complete, said Sarah Gordon of the medical examiner's office.

Since news broke that Seau was found Wednesday in his Oceanside, California, home with a gunshot wound to the chest, there has been speculation about whether repeated hits to his head over his 20-year pro career could be a contributing factor.

1994 Chargers team carries dark legacy

There is no evidence Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease brought on by multiple concussions, though friends and family have stepped forward to say the legendary linebacker suffered a number of hits to the head during his career.

As a linebacker, he played "the most havoc-ridden position on the team. He suffered many concussions, so there is a strong sense that it played a role," said Shawn Mitchell, a pastor and Seau family friend.

Mitchell, who stood next to Seau's grief-stricken mother as she faced a sea of cameras to discuss her son's death, said the family had received calls from researchers asking to study his brain.

"Him taking the shot to the chest makes sense that he would want his head examined," he said.

The medical examiner's office, in a statement Thursday, said it was awaiting the family's decision regarding study of Seau's brain. It said a final autopsy report may take up to 90 days to complete. The autopsy confirmed Seau died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.

While Mitchell did not identify the researchers making the requests, among the institutions the family could donate Seau's brain to is Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, the research center that found former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duerson suffered degenerative damage to his brain because of repeated hits.

Duerson committed suicide, shooting himself in the chest in 2011 and leaving a suicide note that said he wanted his brain studied for possible damage.

Seau's death follows last month's suicide of former Atlanta Falcons safety Ray Easterling, the lead plantiff in a class-action lawsuit against the NFL over concussion-related injuries. The lawsuit names over 1,000 professional players.

In both cases, Easterling and Duerson exhibited symptoms of repetitive head trauma: memory lapses, anger and deep depression, according to family and friends. And in both cases, researchers found signs of brain trauma.

More than 100 former professional football players added their names Thursday to the growing list of people suing the NFL, saying it "repeatedly refuted the connection between concussions and brain injury," according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta by attorney Mike McGlamry.

The NFL has repeatedly dismissed the allegations, saying player safety is a priority. "Any allegation that the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players has no merit," it said.

Seau does not appear to have participated in any of the pending lawsuits against the NFL.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, warned against drawing a conclusion in Seau's case, though he said there were striking similarities between his death and other cases involving football players.

The only way to determine if Seau suffered CTE is to analyze the brain tissue for "hallmarks of the dementia-like disease," Gupta said.

"We can't know, unless Junior Seau's" brain is analyzed in this way, whether his death was related to CTE, he said.

Though Seau had no reported documented history of concussions, Gupta said "the hits don't necessarily result in diagnosed concussion, but the brain is rattled over and over again."

Seau family friend Joe Gallagher said the former linebacker made a comment recently that appeared to indicate a possible issue.

"Junior had wanted to donate his brain to science to the study of concussive injuries," he told CNN affiliate KGTV of San Diego.

 ::snipping2::
Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
texasmom
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ARUBA: It's all about Natalee...we won't give up!


« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2012, 09:06:07 PM »

RIP #55 Sad

Thank you for your tremendous contribution to Pro Football. And sportsmanship.

Fly with the angels, Junior.

 an angelic monkey
Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
texasmom
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ARUBA: It's all about Natalee...we won't give up!


« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2012, 12:16:37 PM »

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7407528n

Junior Seau's girlfriend makes frantic 911 call

Junior Seaus's girlfriend makes a frantic call to 911 to report the former NFL player's suicide. (audio only)

911 call: Woman found Seau with no sign of life
Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
MuffyBee
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« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2012, 04:56:23 PM »

This is really sad.  Rest in peace, Junior.   an angelic monkey
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sharon
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« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2013, 12:41:42 PM »

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/10/3175859/junior-seau-had-brain-disease.html

Posted on Thursday, 01.10.13

NFL player Junior Seau had brain disease CTE

By BARRY WILNER
AP Pro Football Writer

Junior Seau, one of the NFL's best and fiercest players for two decades, suffered from a degenerative brain disease often associated with repeated blows to the head when he committed suicide last May, the National Institutes of Health said in a study released Thursday.

The NIH, based in Bethesda, Md., said Seau's brain revealed abnormalities consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. It said that the study included unidentified brains, one of which was Seau's, and that the findings on Seau were similar to autopsies of people "with exposure to repetitive head injuries."

Seau's family requested the analysis of his brain.

The star linebacker played for 20 NFL seasons with San Diego, Miami and New England before retiring in 2009. He died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound.

 ::snipping2::
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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has!" Margaret Mead
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