It is sad when someone so young dies.
Evidently people are already speculating that drugs caused his death, but it could have been like you said, a combination of his weight and the heat or the high altitude in Denver..It could have been a combination of all three...tragic.
Updated: Aug. 22, 2005, 9:58 PM ET
49ers to attend memorial service TuesdayESPN.com news services
Brandon Warfield remembers his fallen friend
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Less than 48 hours after their teammate collapsed and died, the San Francisco 49ers gathered together, discussed their grief and somehow went back to work.
The team held a light afternoon practice Monday after several hours of meetings and mourning for Thomas Herrion, the popular offensive lineman who died Saturday night after a preseason game in Denver.
OTL: HEAVY DUTY
The death of Thomas Herrion brings back into focus the proliferation of 300-pound players in the NFL. Outside the Lines examines the health risks and physical regimen that are part of pro football. (Tonight, ESPN, 12:40 a.m. ET/9:40 p.m. PT).
Judging by the subdued atmosphere at their training complex, Herrion still was on the players' minds four days before their next preseason game.
"It was a waste for me," left tackle Jonas Jennings said of the hour-long workout. "Mentally, I wasn't there. But you've got to be a professional. You've got to do what's expected of you."
There were flower arrangements in the complex's lobby, and grief counselors were available to the players when they arrived at work. The 49ers, who had a regular day off Sunday, canceled their Monday morning practice and closed their locker room to reporters.
Team physician Barry Bryant briefed the players on what they saw in the locker room in Denver, where Herrion collapsed shortly after the team recited the Lord's Prayer. The team chaplain and a crisis expert also addressed the players, who still were clearly shaken by Herrion's death.
"I knew it wasn't good when it happened," said guard Justin Smiley, who was kneeling next to Herrion. "It's definitely scary. Every now and then, something brings you back to reality."
Everyone in the organization is expected to attend a private memorial service Tuesday night in nearby Mountain View -- but the team also must move forward in the relentless NFL preseason.
Herrion had never tested positive for any banned substance since he entered the NFL two years ago, sources familiar with his league drug profile told ESPN's Chris Mortensen.
The 23-year-old lineman had tested negative on three occasions in the past 12 months for steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, including ephedra products. He also was clean in other league-administered tests for street drugs, the sources said.
The Denver coroner's office performed an autopsy Sunday, but said no cause of death could be determined until toxicology tests were performed. The tests usually take about three to six weeks.
The first-year guard, a longshot to make the final roster, was listed at 6-foot-3, 310 pounds, about average for an NFL lineman. But when measured on the body-mass index scale, which is a commonly accepted standard of fitness in the medical community, Herrion would be considered "severely obese."
Herrion's death once again shined a spotlight on the overall health of NFL players, especially the linemen, who routinely weigh in at more than 300 pounds.
It came four summers after offensive lineman Korey Stringer of the Minnesota Vikings died of heatstroke following a practice in steamy 90-degree weather.
"It's a time that we have to be reflective, and try to sort out what happened and try to carry on in a way that is sensible," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said in Foxboro, Mass. "[We are] working closely with the medical authorities and team physicians and others to see if the cause of this player's death can be ascertained. At this point we don't have any answers."
Members of the 49ers and Thomas Herrion's mother, Janice, remember the fallen offensive lineman. Video
Before starting training camp last month, Herrion passed the broad range of physicals the NFL demands from all its players.
One of his former coaches at Kilgore College in Texas, Travis Fox, said he roomed with Herrion this summer and watched the lineman work out in the 97-degree Texas heat.
"The young man was in shape," Fox said.
Herrion played his college ball at Utah, and so was accustomed to playing in high altitude such as Denver's, which can intensify dehydration.
He was running down the field with the third- and fourth-team players -- the ones hoping to grab one of the final 53 roster spots -- during a frantic, 14-play, 91-yard drive that ended with 2 seconds left in San Francisco's 26-21 loss. While taxing, it certainly wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a professional football player.
"He reminded me of myself in college -- just a raw talent, eager to learn," Jennings said. "He was really coming into his own. He just had one of the best drives of his life, right before his life was taken."
After the game, Herrion looked tired, but was walking around the field, shaking hands with the Broncos and joking with some of the 49ers staff. As always in the locker room, medical staffers were on hand. Paramedics were performing CPR on Herrion within moments of his collapse.
"We have done everything medically we could do," said Gene Upshaw, head of the players union. "We have doctors trained in emergency medicine, in heart problems and other specialties standing by at every game. It's not just internists. It's people who know what to do in every emergency. It just wasn't enough."
Herrion spent part of last season on the San Francisco and Dallas practice squads. He also played this season with the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europe.
"I think everybody that came into contact with him feels the impact of what just happened," said Sione Pouha, Herrion's college teammate at Utah who's now a rookie defensive tackle with the New York Jets. "It really makes you come down to earth and realize what you really have. It was a shocker. You can't sleep after that."
49ers quarterback Alex Smith, the No. 1 draft pick who played with Herrion at Utah in 2003, wasn't ready to speak to reporters.
"I think he's taking it pretty well, but I know it's tough," Smiley said of Smith.
Tributes to Herrion poured in from his native Texas and Utah, where Herrion played his final two college seasons. The Utes will hold a moment of silence before the season opener against Arizona on Sept. 2, and they'll add a black No. 76 to their helmets.
"It hurts every time you walk in the locker room and his locker is still up," said Arnold Parker, a 49ers defensive back who played with Herrion at Utah. "Every time somebody from Utah calls me, it makes you think of Big T. ... He dreamed of being in the NFL, and his dream came true. It's sad that it's over for him, but it's a testimony that dreams come true."
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