The Short Life, and Sad Death, of Darryl Kile

Sadly, two words might have saved Darryl Kile’s life had his doctors been paying attention: Sergei Grinkov.

Grinkov died in 1995, a young man, a strong athlete with no symptoms, who passed his physicals, and yet there was the warning of a father who’d died of a heart attack. The lesson is obvious: Any athlete whose father died of a heart attack needs heart testing beyond the standard physical. The consequences of non-testing have become painfully clear--not once now, but twice.

Julie Bixby

Huntington Beach

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The way The Times is handling the death of Darryl Kile is giving me “ ‘roid rage.” I am certainly not an expert on steroids and human growth hormone, but I do read your newspaper, have read a good deal of the published literature on the subject, and have been involved in athletics most of my life. I am sure the same is true of many of the reporters in the sports department. And if it is, why hasn’t anyone tried connecting the dots?

By all accounts Darryl Kile was an admirable father, husband, teammate and human being; his passing is certainly a sad and horrible one. Your reporters seem very focused on this human interest, team dynamics side of that story. But as reporters on the sports beat, they must know about the ill effects of steroid use.

A Times article Sunday described Darryl Kile as a good high school pitcher who couldn’t get a college scholarship until the summer he gained 30-40 pounds and his fastball jumped 10 mph. Hello, is anybody home? Follow the dots. How often do people gain 30-40 pounds of muscle over the course of the summer through good nutrition and weightlifting?

Bill Ryan

Westwood