[i]DENVER (AP) -- San Francisco offensive lineman Thomas Herrion collapsed in the locker room and died Sunday morning, shortly after the 49ers played the Denver Broncos in a preseason game. He was 23.
Herrion, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound guard, was on the field for San Francisco's 14-play, 91-yard drive that ended with a touchdown with 2 seconds left.
Players had finished listening to coach Mike Nolan address them in a postgame meeting when Herrion collapsed. Medics administered CPR on him and took him to an ambulance that rushed him to a nearby hospital.
About three hours later, 49ers spokesman Aaron Salkin confirmed that Herrion had been pronounced dead. The cause of death was not immediately known.[/i]
......very sad but when the hell will the NFL wakeup and try to ensure their line players are healthy for crying out loud insted of overweight giants........in the BC/Hamilton game the announcers said that the biggest thing Cheatwood would have to get accustomed to is the speed at which the CFL plays at vs. the NFL.........in the NFL, they prefer their lineman to be humongous which means they are slow.........the CFL promotes speed for their linemen which means they are not as overly large but at least are not massive potbelly HA-timebombs.........
Yeah... 300 pounds isn't healthy for the NFL lineman. Very sad though to hear this and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
Very sad to hear. Only 23 years old. It's true the NFL likes big linemen. The players are usually bigger and there is less room on the NFL field to move.
we lost a big-guy quite a few years back…his name was Tom Pate and played for Hamilton…I still remember the game and play he just collapsed in the end zone after a short run play…died on the field I believe of a brain anuerism…there is now an award named after him…in life you just never know…tragic about the NFL. kid and condolences to his family and friends…
I watched that same game papazoola. Pretty shocking.
Sorry to hear that news, but he's right abou the NFL players, too overweight!!!
It's unnatural for these athletes to be 300+ pounds and mobile.
I remember reading a column in a medical journal saying one unnamed lineman on the Eagles last year had an unnaturally high blood pressure - it was something like 180/150.
Considering normal blood pressure should be in the 110/70 to 120/80 range, it's a miracle these NFL linemen don't all die of congestive heart failure by the time they are 35.
Prayers and condolenses to the family and team. Athletes or everyday people.......It's NOT good for anyone to be that weight and put that kind of stress on your body. Having said that we have to wait and see what the offical cause was. But...a sad day for ANY kind of football when this happens! Just like swtiching off a light switch, things can stop like that and we don't know why...........I know it makes me appreciate life a whole lot more. Here's to good health and happiness to EVERY poster on this site!!
it's sad... it remindes me of the 21 year old Jeff Halvorson who played for the Okanagan Sun... he was 6'1.. 190lbs. and collapsed after a practice due to heart failure... it's tragic when someone passes that young... and yes weight is a problem... but think of how many overweight guys have played in the NFL and not had that happen... or in Jeff's case it wasn't even the weight... at 190lbs... thats not overweight... sometimes things like this just happen... no matter what size or shape you are... but sad just the same.
What a sad thing to happen for Thomas Herrion and his family and loved ones. Standing on the verge of a promising career that has been the dream of so many but earned by comparatively so few and then to lose your life so fast is hard to understand.
It sure puts the game of football into perspective and shows again how precious our lives are and how you never know the moment that it will be taken from you or someone close to you no matter how successful you are or how old.
What a sad time for his family and his team. Death is never easy to deal with or accept especially when someone is so young and appears so healthy.
This will be tough on the 49ers and more for his family and friends. Luckily for the family, his team and organization will probably provide a lot of support to each other. Let's hope that helps.
His family likely will have great memories of his life and the times they enjoyed and possibly the one consolation that he died doing something that he loved and that gave so much joy to so many others.
It sure brings back the deaths of local guys especially the recent one in Kelowna, Jeff Halvorson, which was felt by all football fans in Canada.
It is trite but true. There is the one hope that the death of someone so talented and young can be an inspiration to others to work hard and achieve their dreams and make every day in this life count. It is a good reminder that life unlike football is a game with no timeouts, no substitutions and the clock can stop at any time.
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Pierce-I learned a lot about perseverance. Things aren’t always going to go your way. I’ve become so much more aware of the realities of the game and life…Things can be taken away from you. You can either sit back…or overcome it and fight through it....