OT: Gaines Adams dead at age 26

Submitted by Drake on
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/01/17/reports-gaines-adams-de…
Bears defensive end Gaines Adams has died at the age of 26, according to the Greenville News in South Carolina. NBC4 in Greenville confirms the report. Greenwood County Coroner James T. Coursey said Adams was declared dead after he was taken to an emergency room Sunday morning. Coursey said Adams appeared to be in perfect health. Adams played his college football at Clemson. He was drafted fourth overall by the Bucs in 2007, then traded to the Bears last year.
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Big_G

January 17th, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^

This is sad news most definately. My condolences to the family as well. This news seems confirmed on other sites as well. Love PFT but had to look for confirmation from another site before seeing if this was true. Any long time PFT reader will remember the Terry Bradshaw episode a few years ago...

Joined: 06/30/2008

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DoubleMs

January 17th, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^

Condolences to the family... 26 and in perfect health? If it wasn't accidental, I wonder if he had some sort of heart defect or something... one of my friends had a girl on their track team drop dead of a heart defect in practice one day, just out of the blue... tiny hole in her heart suddenly tore open.

Joined: 10/13/2008

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Drake

January 17th, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^

"Adam_Schefter Aware of reports that it's a heart attack, and it could be. But one person familiar with case said Adams' family is investigating cause." So it is probably a heart related cause. May he RIP.

Joined: 07/30/2009

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silverslugger

January 17th, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^

my thoughts and prayers are to his family, friends and teammates I lost a HS football teammate and good friend of mine mid-season, and no that it is a very tough time for everyone to go through

Joined: 07/07/2009

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Sean@MATW

January 17th, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^

Often times in young athletes (and more common in African American/black people than other races/ethnicities) it's something called congenital hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, basically meaning some people are born with a heart that is either already enlarged or predisposed to grow too big, eventually failing and suddenly giving out. Though this is routinely screened for on physicals and should be diagnosed early. Sad. He was the #4 draft pick one year if I recall correctly.

Joined: 10/17/2008

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ryngonzalez

January 17th, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^

As a Cambridge Academy Alum (where he played high school ball) it's been a sad, sad day. I remember watching him play for our 2001 state championship 8-man team as a 3rd Grader. So young to die. Rest in peace, Gaines. Damn.

Joined: 07/24/2009

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Tim Waymen

January 17th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^

That's absolutely awful. My condolences to the family. It's terrible. That's two active NFL players this year, and forgive me if I am forgetting another, which I hope is not the case. With the utmost respect to Mr. Adams and his family, there is something I have been wondering about and I would really like to hear your opinions. The past year, it seemed like many more public figures died than usual. Last month or so, I saw a news reporter ask a guest about this, and the guest said that it seems like it but a large part is really that everyone stays so connected through Facebook, Twitter, myspace, etc., and everything is reported by blogs and TMZ, so we end up hearing about every public figure, whether obscure or publicly relevant. In other words, 5 years ago, we probably wouldn't hear about, say, DJ AM or maybe even Farrah Fawcet. It could also be that it's because of Twitter, youtube, Facebook, TMZ that there are more "famous" people to begin with, but I highly doubt that we found out about Walter Cronkite, Patrick Swayze, Chris Henry, Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcet because we're "better connected."

Joined: 06/30/2008

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Magnus

January 17th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^

I've been eating really well lately, but I just got a burger for lunch. Then I came home and read this. It puts things in perspective when people younger than me are dying from cardiac problems. It's very sad.

Joined: 07/17/2008

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Tater

January 17th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^

Sadly, the NFL life expectancy for linemen as been reported as being around 55 years. They are required to maintain an unhealthy body weight to keep their jobs, and the nature of the sport subjects them to more wear and tear. NFL players are often metaphorically referred to as "gladiators;" sadly, too many share dying young with their predecessors. I live in the Tampa Bay area, and watched Adams for most of his short career, and this hits very close to home for me. Adams was scapegoated for Tampa Bay's defensive woes, labelled a "bust," and traded. Not only is it tragic that he died so early, but very sad that he spent the last four months of his life being told he was an "underachiever" and that he "didn't play hard enough." I would imagine that there are a lot of "guilty faces" on the Tampa Bay coaching staff today.

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