I just heard the sad news that Reggie White, one of the greatest defensive linemen in the history of pro football has died at the age of 43.
A report on ESPN.com says White's widow has reported he died of respiratory failure related to sleep apnea. But on ESPNews, Chris Mortensen said that White died of a massive heart attack. My condolences to his family and friends, who have to be in deep shock right now.
Back in January 2003, I linked to a multi-part series in the Arizona Republic on the physical toll professional sports takes on today's athlete. Unfortunately, that series is no longer available online. But if you click here, you'll find a reprint of a piece that originally appeared in the New York Times about the death of Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster:
While the damage to his mental capacities was significant
That’s a great read from Celizic about White’s quest to find religion beyond what had been fed to him. But he sullies it by assuming that Madonna is just going along with the spirituality thing because it’s a fad. Has he interviewed Madonna? If so, I’ll take it back in this case, but we should guard against the assumption that football players are sincere and musicians are self-absorbed and flighty. The opposite is often true, with White proving in his (sadly) last years to be an exception.
His anti-gay bigotry should not be forgotten either.
http://www.google.com/search?q=reggie+white+anti-gay&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official