NFL Tragedy

When Korey Stringer reported to the Minnesota Vikings’ training camp last week, he was proud to be 335 pounds, proclaiming himself in the best shape of his life.

“He was so excited,” teammate Cris Carter said, “at coming to camp at his lowest weight since Ohio State.”

But suddenly, shockingly, the joy turned to tragedy.

Stringer, 27, died early Wednesday morning of heatstroke after Tuesday’s practice at Mankato, Minn., where the heat index pushed the temperature up to 110 degrees.

Stringer, who needed a golf cart to get off the field Monday, vomited three times during Tuesday’s practice but didn’t seek the aid of a trainer until practice was over. Stringer soon lost feeling in his limbs and had lapsed into unconsciousness by the time he was brought to Immanuel St. Joseph’s-Mayo Health System hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:50 a.m.

Stringer’s loss leaves a hole in the Viking offensive line, where the six-year right tackle had started every game the last two seasons.

But the remarks of those who knew Stringer best show a man whose impact went far beyond the football field.

His teammates and former teammates found it difficul to put into words their grief at the passing of a man everybody seemed to like.

Minnesota receiver Randy Moss became so choked up at a news conference that he had to walk away.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Moss said through the tears. “He was here today and gone tomorrow. . . . Big K just wanted everybody to be successful. I never saw him mad. I never saw him argue with another player.

“I think he’s looking down at us right now. He sees all the pain that we feel, but, at the same time, he knows the show must go on.”

Stringer’s death obviously will be felt most in his household. He leaves behind a wife, Kelci, and a 3-year-old son, Kodie.

But others will also feel the loss, including some at the St. Paul Public Library.

Stringer had a passion for reading. He loved biographies, from those of athletes to such key figures in black history as Malcolm X.

“He always wanted to see how people got to where they were,” said Jeanne Marie Laskas, who spent last month with Stringer for an upcoming profile in Esquire magazine.

Stringer also liked how-to books and had recently plunged into crime novels.

His passion for literacy was matched by his passion for spreading the word. For each of the last two years, he spoke at an annual gathering of teenage library volunteers in St. Paul.

“He would always tell us,” said Steve Nelson, communications coordinator for the St. Paul library, “that if he was in town and he could help us, he’d be there.

“When he spoke, he would put on a stellar performance. Here you have this big lineman, talking at the kids’ level, telling them that what they do is important. We feel what he did for us was pretty important.”

Alice Neve, superintendent of Outreach Services for the St. Paul library, was flooded with calls about Stringer on Wednesday but still couldn’t say enough about him.

“The message he passed on was that people who are successful are readers,” Neve said. “That meant a lot. He would talk about how reading would take him to other worlds, into adventures.

“The kids saw this big man--they couldn’t help but be impressed by his huge size--talking about the huge power of words. The kids’ eyes twinkled when they heard him talk. He broke all the stereotypes of the big athlete. It’s sad what happened.”

In Stringer’s hometown of Warren, Ohio, and at his alma mater of Warren G. Harding High, assistant football coach Steven Arnold remembers how the big tackle reacted when he heard a local youth football team needed equipment.

Stringer walked out to his truck, returned with the check he had received for playing in the Pro Bowl and signed it over to Arnold.

After leading Harding to the state title, Stringer was Big Ten freshman of the year in 1992 at Ohio State and an All-American in each of the next two seasons.

Eager to test himself in the trenches of the NFL, Stringer came out a year early and was selected in the first round of the 1995 draft by the Vikings, the 24th pick overall.

Could he excel at the pro level? Stringer didn’t have much time to think about it. In Minnesota’s 1995 season opener against the Chicago Bears, starting right tackle Rick Cunningham suffered a knee injury and Stringer was plugged in.

And he never left, starting for the rest of that season.

He had become popular with his Viking teammates even before he made it onto the field. How could they not like a rookie who, forced to perform on stage as are all rookies at the end of training camp, grabbed a microphone and entertained wearing only a jock strap on his 350-pound frame.

“He was one of the funniest human beings I’ve ever been around,” Andre Patterson, a Viking coach in 1998 and ‘99, told the Associated Press. “I think he had a future in comedy.”

Stringer could also do impressions.

“He would meet a new guy,” said Everett Lindsay, a former Viking teammate, “and, after only two minutes, he could do a great imitation of him.”

But the laughs soon grew hollow. The man, whose size so impressed those around him, had begun to regard that weight as a curse.

At 14, Stringer stood 6 feet 1 and weighed 210 pounds. By adulthood, he had grown to 6-4, but his body weight continued to increase at an alarming weight. He was 348 when drafted and 388 by the end of his second season.

“The Vikings sent him to a weight-loss clinic,” Laskas said, “but that was the wrong approach. What changed him, I think, was when Kelci became pregnant and he became a dad. He just woke up and realized he had to take care of himself.”

Unfortunately, those who knew and loved Korey Stringer discovered Wednesday that he was gone, leaving big holes to fill, on and off the field.

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Heat-Related Deaths in Football

* From 1955-2000 there were 102 heatstroke cases that resulted in death at all levels of football.

* There were 13 heatstroke deaths from 1996-2000.

* Two of the 13 high school football deaths and both of the college football deaths in 2000 were heat-related.

* The only heat-related death of a Southern California football player occurred in 1992, when San Fernando High’s Sergio Echevarria collapsed after conditioning practice and died two days later.

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NFL Deaths

* The most-recent deaths of NFL players in games or practice were the result of heart attacks. J.V. Cain, a tight end for St. Louis, died after a practice in 1979, and Chuck Hughes, a wide receiver for Detroit, was stricken in a game in 1971.

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RELATED STORIES

Stunned: The Vikings and the rest of the NFL were shocked by the heatstroke death of offensive tackle Korey Stringer. A1.

Heat: Precautions such as frequent water breaks and practicing at cooler times of the day can prevent more football tragedies. A20.

Scene: Mankato is 90 miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul. But on this day, it was a universe away from normalcy. D8

Reaction: Players and coaches understand the attitude that led to Korey Stringer’s death, but things have changed. D8