OT: Tony Dungy's Son Dead***Condolence Thread***

[ABQCOWBOY]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2268593

TAMPA, Fla. -- James Dungy, the 18-year-old son of Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, was found dead in a Tampa-area apartment, police said Thursday.



Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Tony Dungy, left, included his son James in team activities, including this photo op with President Clinton in 2000.
No foul play is suspected, but a cause of death won't be announced pending an autopsy, said Vida Morgan, a secretary in the Hillsborough County sheriff's office.

James Dungy's girlfriend found him when she returned to the Campus Lodge Apartments in Lutz, Fla., the sheriff's office said in a news release on its Web site. Police responded at 1:32 a.m. Thursday and performed CPR on Dungy before he was taken to University Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Tony Dungy has left the Colts and is in Tampa. The Colts (13-1) are at Seattle on Saturday, and team president Bill Polian said that assistant head coach Jim Caldwell has taken over for Dungy.

Indianapolis lost its first game Sunday against the visiting San Diego Chargers, ending what had been a perfect season.

"The thoughts and prayers of everyone in this building are with Tony and [wife] Lauren, their children and their extended family, and for the repose of James' soul," Polian said at a news conference at the Colts' training facility in Indianapolis. "This is a tragedy for the Dungy family and by extension his football family here with the Colts."

Owner Jim Irsay and Polian met with team officials and players to break the news.

"It was not easy, and it was somber, to say the least," Polian said.

Caldwell will take over "for however long Tony will be away and however long he will be away is entirely up to him," Polian added.

"Tony made it clear to me and Jim [Irsay] he wished for the team and organization to carry on. We will. We have the greatest role model there is in Tony. Jim said to the team 'We'll emulate our leader.' "

The coach and his wife, Lauren, have four other children: daughters Tiara and Jade, and sons Eric and Jordan. James was taking extension classes at the University of South Florida, Morgan said.

James Dungy spent his senior year at North Central High School in Indianapolis and graduated this year. C.E. Quandt, the school's principal, said Dungy was a personable student who never flaunted his father's position.

"He just came in and tried to blend in and be a student," Quandt said. "I liked James a lot."

Quandt said Dungy visited North Central a week or two ago to pick up a transcript. He said the death surprised and saddened everyone at the school.

"It kind of diminishes our school family," he said.

James stood 6-foot-7 and was sometimes mistaken for one of his father's players, The Indianapolis Star reported on its Web site. James and his younger brother Eric sometimes watched Colts games from the sideline, but they had to earn it by doing well in school.

New York Jets coach Herman Edwards, one of Dungy's closest friends, called James a "very, very good kid.

"The whole family is good people. You know Tony, how he raised a family," Edwards said from Jets training camp in Hempstead, N.Y. "A tragedy. I know the prayers of the National Football League go out to him and his family."


Fans posted prayers and messages of support for Dungy, who also coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on a message board on a Colts fan Web site.

"Not only was he a great football coach for the Bucs, but he is an even better person," one Tampa Bay fan wrote. "It makes me sick that it happened at this time of year to a person that is so giving and caring."

Dungy was an assistant coach with the Minnesota Vikings from 1992 to 1995, before he became Tampa Bay's head coach.

He began coaching in 1980, as defensive backs coach at the University of Minnesota, his alma mater. He was quarterback for the Gophers from 1973-1976.


For me, I can't imagine what I would do if my Son did something like this. I guess I'd feel like dying myself. Words just don't get it for something like this. Not a damn thing anybody can say or do to take the pain away. Only time can heal this kind of hurt and sometimes, not even that.

This is horrible news.

 

[wsmith_1972]

All I've seen is a reference to someone performing CPR and it said his girlfriend found him in his bed.

My assumption is he overdosed on something.

 

[Concord]

Christmas will never again be a time of joy for the Dungy family...

That is so sad and true.

 

[DBoys]

I have a new empathy for that sort of thing, I went through a pretty dark period the first Christmas season after my Mom died... we buried her the day before the 9/11 tragedy, I was looking at my 50th birthday coming up the next August, and all I could think about was how I was the last member of my family still alive...

Talk about a sense of isolation... I never got to the point where I was suicidal, but I was most assuredly one hurtin' Bear... but I figure the pain was still so fresh that I could get past it, I have had no recurrences of that self-pity in subsequent holiday seasons...

Anyway, I can certainly understand how somebody deep in the grips of depression would find life a bit more unbearable during the holidays... what sucks is as a result of this young man giving in to his despair, the Christmas holidays will be a time of pain for his family from now until the last of them joins him in death...

Christmas will never again be a time of joy for the Dungy family...

This is what the holidays should really be about sincere feelings and sharing them with others.

 

[calico]

Here is the link to the girls page where he posted.


"can't talk 2 nobody n e more"

 

[Aikmaniac]

Here is the link to the girls page where he posted.


"can't talk 2 nobody n e more"

I saw that also.

I'm hearing now that he was bipolar and quit taking his medication a couple weeks ago.

He also tried to OD a couple months ago.

 

[felix360]

Dungy's 18-year-old son found dead

/ Associated Press
Posted: 57 minutes ago



James Dungy, the 18-year-old son of Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, was found dead in a Tampa-area apartment, police said Thursday.


No foul play is suspected, but a cause of death won't be announced pending an autopsy, said Vida Morgan, a secretary in the Hillsborough County sheriff's office.



James Dungy's girlfriend found him when she returned to the Campus Lodge Apartments in Lutz, Fla., the sheriff's office said in a news release on its Web site. Police responded at 1:32 a.m. Thursday and performed CPR on Dungy before he was taken to University Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Tony Dungy has left the Colts and is in Tampa. The Colts (13-1) are at Seattle on Saturday, and team president Bill Polian said that assistant head coach Jim Caldwell has taken over for Dungy.

Indianapolis lost its first game Sunday against the visiting San Diego Chargers, ending what had been a perfect season.

"The thoughts and prayers of everyone in this building are with Tony and (wife) Lauren, their children and their extended family, and for the repose of James' soul," Polian said at a news conference at the Colts' training facility in Indianapolis. "This is a tragedy for the Dungy family and by extension his football family here with the Colts."

Owner Jim Irsay and Polian met with team officials and players to break the news.

"It was not easy, and it was somber, to say the least," Polian said.

Caldwell will take over "for however long Tony will be away and however long he will be away is entirely up to him," Polian added.

Chaplains were brought in to talk with the team.

"I don't think there's anyone here that would wish to play a football game under these circumstances, but it's our obligation and we'll fulfill that obligation because that's what Tony wants us to do," Polian said.

The Dungys have four other children: daughters Tiara and Jade and sons Eric and Jordan. James, their second-oldest child, was taking extension classes at the University of South Florida, Morgan said.

James Dungy spent his senior year at North Central High School in Indianapolis and graduated this year. C.E. Quandt, the school's principal, said Dungy was a personable student who never flaunted his father's position.

"He just came in and tried to blend in and be a student," Quandt said. "I liked James a lot."

Quandt said Dungy visited North Central a week or two ago to pick up a transcript. He said the death surprised and saddened everyone at the school.

"It kind of diminishes our school family," he said.

James stood 6-foot-7 and was sometimes was mistaken for one of his father's players, The Indianapolis Star reported on its Web site. James and his younger brother, Eric, sometimes watched Colts games from the sidelines, but they had to earn it by doing well in school.

New York Jets coach Herman Edwards, one of Dungy's closest friends, called James a "very, very good kid.

"The whole family is good people. You know Tony, how he raised a family," Edwards said from Jets training camp in Hempstead, N.Y. "A tragedy. I know the prayers of the National Football League go out to him and his family."

Fans posted prayers and messages of support for Dungy, who also coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on a message board on a Colts fan Web site.

"Not only was he a great football coach for the Bucs, but he is an even better person," one Tampa Bay fan wrote. "It makes me sick that it happened at this time of year to a person that is so giving and caring."

Dungy took over as coach of the Colts in 2002. His first head coaching stint was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996-2001; he was an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings from 1992 to 1995.

 

[silverbear]

This is what the holidays should really be about sincere feelings and sharing them with others.

Aw, I just talk a lot... I suspect some folks find it annoying, but sometimes I find it therapeutic...

I avoid going crazy by makin' other people nuts, LOL...

 

[Maikeru-sama]

All accounts said the guy was 6-7.

In that pick, Clinton and Tony Dungy seem to be almost as tall. I didnt know Clinton or Tony Dungy was that tall.

 

[el_chevo]

horrible, just horrible...

 

[Maikeru-sama]

can't talk 2 nobody n e more

Oh..man after reading that, I think he is telling that girl that in a joking manner.

You know, when you and some friends have not heard from somebody in a while you might say to that person on say...their blog or even on the phone when ya call them up

"Where you been at, you act like you cant talk to anybody anymore".

I think he was telling her that she acts like she cant talk to anybody anymore.

- Mike G.

 

[Hostile]

I really feel for Tony Dungy. In September it marked the 10 year mark for my son's death.

No parent should have to bury their child.

 

[kojak]

My thought and Prayers go out to the Dungy family. This is terrible news. Tony Dungy was a class act and I have alot of respect for him and what he has done. I just hate it when things like this happen to good people. I guess life just isn't fair sometimes.

 

[dalengal]

may GOD bless u and ur family mr. dungy

 

[jay cee]

All accounts said the guy was 6-7.

In that pick, Clinton and Tony Dungy seem to be almost as tall. I didnt know Clinton or Tony Dungy was that tall.

I think that pic is from 2000 Mike. The kid was only about 13 at the time.

 

[wsmith_1972]

No way would I post on one of theses blogs. Theses kids are all screwed up theses days.

Saw an article yesterday where some kid got prison time for admitting that he grabbed the steering wheel from a friend causing her to swerve into a ditch. Killing his other friend.

Read the blogs there too. There were three people in the car. The three were in an apparent bizzaro love triangle. 2 guys and a girl. The two teen guys were gay boyfriends. The girl had a crush on one of the gay guys. During the accident, she was driving. The guy she liked was in the passengers seat. The guy who got prison time was in the back seat. The guy in the backseat was jealous that the girl was hitting on his man. They were coming back from a party where the guy in the back was wasted (2 times the legal limit). He grabs the steering wheel and car goes into ditch. It put his friend in the passenger's seat in a coma where he eventually died. It injured the driver. The drunk guy came out unharmed. It wasn't until he admitted on his blog that he got the prison time.

 

[Seven]

Wow. Horrible, horrible news.

 

[silver]

All accounts said the guy was 6-7.

In that pick, Clinton and Tony Dungy seem to be almost as tall. I didnt know Clinton or Tony Dungy was that tall.

wasn't that 5 years ago when the kid was 13?

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Yeah Yeah Yeah...you got me. I wasnt thinking, probably was when he was 13.....

- Mike G.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Dungy, wife need to find source of enduring strength

http://x.go.com/cgi/x.pl?goto=http:...len_pasquarelli&name=SEARCH_m_archive&srvc=sz
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com


I have watched my parents bury two of my four siblings, the most recent just six weeks ago, when we laid to rest my brother. He would have celebrated a birthday on Thursday. I have witnessed the raw emotion that accompanies such a tragic event.

So when the ESPN.com editors dispatched an e-mail Thursday morning, seeking a reactionary column to the death of James Dungy, the 18-year-old son of Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy and his wife, Lauren, I approached the laptop keyboard with this firsthand reality: Not even the greatest literary giants of this or any other time are capable of crafting words sufficient to assuage the profound grief that is inherent to the passing of any parent's child.

Admittedly more hack than wordsmith am I, so there isn't a single syllable of this column that can adequately console the Dungy family on their loss, or even remotely make sense of the situation. Editors have a pet term, "weighing in," on such stories. But words, even the sort of eloquent prose of which I'm rarely capable, carry little gravitas at these times.

To say nothing, though, in such cases is to essentially be as hollow as the hollow words themselves, and so some sincere effort is surely in order.

There is a devastating incongruity that transpires when the circle of life suddenly comes unraveled, and parents are called upon to bid an early farewell to a child. The celebrity imposed upon Tony Dungy and his family because of his station in life will neither lessen nor exacerbate what certainly must be the most painful experience imaginable.

Less than a week ago, Dungy presided over a group of men poised on the cusp of football immortality. On Thursday, he was forced to identify a young man he fathered and, in so doing, to confront his own mortality. It is, to be sure, an exercise in which a parent must plumb the depths of emotion and dip deep into the reservoir of faith.

There were times 14 years ago, when my youngest brother died in an accident, when I saw my parents, who like Tony and Lauren Dungy are people of great faith and values, question everything. There were times, indeed, when I wondered whether they could survive such a tragedy. And then, last month, the emotions were revisited, and I can tell you this: For the first few days, a parent doesn't go from hour to hour, but rather lives from one breath to the next, because the pain is so psychologically debilitating.

Benumbing does not begin to describe the experience. Truth be told, a parent who loses a child never has the hurt scarred, never grows a callous over the wound. Instead, they must lean on each other and, even more so, on faith. And must, although seemingly impossible in the moment, find some source of enduring strength.

From the moment I first met Tony Dungy, as an undrafted free agent college player with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1977, I have known him to be a strong man. His principles and his values are deep-rooted, unwavering and, blessedly, real. There is nothing feigned, manufactured or ersatz about the man. What you see publicly is, trust me, what you get in the private moments as well.

This is how I feel about Tony Dungy the man: Were he to have become a teacher, his likely vocation had he not moved into coaching after his brief playing career, his impact might have been every inch as significant as it is now. Had he pursued a career as, say, a salesman or stockbroker or an attorney, Dungy would have been the same man he is today, albeit with much less celebrity. But, probably, no less effective.

Strong people of faith are not defined by what they do for a living but, rather, how they live what they do. Tony Dungy is one of those people.

The last time I saw Tony Dungy, on Sunday evening at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, he was handling the Colts' first defeat of the season with characteristic aplomb. And with the outward veneer that most personifies his public image that somehow always supersedes his roiling inner emotions. The 2005 season suddenly blemished, Dungy was upset more by the Colts' spotty performance than by the defeat itself.

Now this most blessed of seasons has come unhinged for Dungy and his family, just three days before Christmas. And I pray, and hope you do, too, that Tony and Lauren Dungy and their four other children can find some semblance of peace and understanding.

It will, no doubt, be a most daunting experience. Lose a football game and there is almost always a make-good opportunity just a week or so removed. Lose a child and a parent, no matter how ideal the child-rearing, experiences a painstaking self-examination. When he recently lost his father, Dungy, unsurprisingly responded with dignity. He will be no less dignified, I'm sure, in responding to the passing of his son.

Which is not to say that Tony and Lauren Dungy, remarkable people in every facet of their lives, won't need considerable support and plenty of prayers. On Thursday morning, some well-intentioned but shortsighted people were wondering how it is that Dungy can even try to get through the rest of this football season.

After having seen the crippling ramifications of a child lost, from an up-close-and-personal perspective, I know there is a more pressing concern. And that's why, at some private moment, at a quiet and contemplative time on Thursday, you would do well to maybe whisper a prayer that Tony and Lauren Dungy find the faith and the strength to just get through the next few days. He is a great football coach.

Dungy, I can assure you, is an even better man, and he should be in our thoughts.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2268643