They were freshman roommates. So many of them were wild boys; maybe the game killed them, but maybe it domesticated them first. Only a quarter of the football players who entered USC in 1984 had graduated by 1989. All Rights Reserved. Matt feels guilty. He had no other real options (academically or athletically), so he kept playing both sports. David’s short-term memory is mush, but his long-term memory is still there, and they laugh like old times. He has a congenital vascular disorder called Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, which at birth left him with a port-wine stain along the left side of his body, and this only exacerbates his growing medical problems. Nobody could foresee that in 1989. He quit after one year to sell insurance, but he stays in touch with a few old USC teammates. USC went 19-4-1 in his career and appeared in two Rose Bowls. He gets a massage twice a month to combat lingering back and neck problems, but he is faring well, too. He sells his trophies so he can buy Laura an engagement ring, and he writes her a letter in puffy paint: Laura, my angel, marry me. . Michigan played them in the 1990 Rose Bowl, which was Bo's last game. The linebackers form a team within a team, each player with his own role. I love you! Pain was for the weak. A good night’s sleep becomes an impossible dream. Alan promises he will get up and take a shower. These are their stories. From left: Ross, Gee and Webb outside the Coliseum, in their Trojans heyday. Sports Illustrated Cover story: 1989 USC had 12 LB's..5 dead now, https://apple.news/Auz-j1QonROKoBDzw4THHtw, (You must log in or sign up to reply here. This is an SI piece by Michael Rosenberg (yes, that Michael Rosenberg) on the linebackers from USC's 1989 team. Advertisement Smith raised graduation rates substantially, in … Maybe he has been misdiagnosed; maybe he’s not getting the right medical care. These are their stories. He has a whiteboard, though, and on it he writes to Matt: Matt offers to adopt Luke and Joshua, but Alana is uneasy about it. Marla bails when Scott gives her a black eye. College did this: It introduced Matt Gee, the Kansas country boy, to David Webb, the surfer from Irvine, and let the friendship jell. Five will die by age 50, their lives stamped forever with an early expiration date. None of them died on the field, but for each former Trojan, football was inextricably tied to mortality. The longer answer is that a coroner found three times the legal limit of alcohol in Matt’s blood; he also suffered from hypertension, ascites, cardiovascular disease, anomalous small coronary arteries, complications of hepatic cirrhosis and obstructive sleep apnea. Matt joked that Junior got this otherworldly athleticism from eating so much pineapple. Jägermeister, beer, rubbing alcohol, Listerine—what’s the difference? ), O/NSO: A matter of coaching compromise or status quo edition, USC makes top 10 for 5-star DT Walter Nolen. But without football, he would not have met Alana, would not have had three kids, would not have built lifelong friendships, would not have enjoyed most of what made his life so great. They used to finish each other’s sentences, but now, in the middle of routine conversations, Matt puts both his hands in the air, palms up, as if Alana is speaking a foreign language. Matt sets Scott up with an apartment in Ventura . When Scott gets drunk, he gets violent. His stomach grows distended. By his mid-20s he has a degenerative disk in his back, a hip that rubs bone on bone, a thumb that bends backward and a wrist that pops out at an awkward angle—but none of those is the real problem. Alana hires a sober life coach to be with Matt, take him to meetings, get him back on track. Scott Ross was as much a football player—mentally and physically—as anybody you could meet. Oct 8, 2020. Former USC and San Diego Chargers star linebacker Junior Seau died Wednesday from a self-inflicted gunshot that police said was an apparent suicide. The Trojans had 12 linebackers on its 1989 depth chart, each leaning into what seemed to be the limitless future football could provide. 5 of 12 linebackers on USC's 1989 depth chart have died, each before age 50. Scott scared people, but he did not scare Matt. He says his memory is intact. and the cycle repeats. David is always fine. By now, the U.S. has learned about head trauma and football. The Trojans go 9-2-1 and then win the Rose Bowl that season, but football fools them. But when he doesn’t get drunk, the demons move in closer. “Are you drinking?”. . Junior didn’t even know what a june bug was. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Daily Cover: The Tragedy of the 1989 USC Linebacker Corps. His face is swollen and discolored. Nobody can figure out how to help him. The Trojans saw Alan every day but didn’t really know him well, and so he makes a smooth transition from man to memory. He tells Scott to come to California and live with him, with one condition: no drinking. Drug tests are easy to beat. Matt had swiped it as a gag, years ago, and he has kept it all this time as a souvenir of their friendship. . In one year, Matt spends 152 days in the hospital. He stabs himself in the leg in the bathtub. The Obvious: William “Clay” Matthews Jr. (1974-77) was a consensus 1977 All-American inside linebacker. Five of the twelve guys have died before the age of 50. https://www.si.com/college/2020/10/07/usc-and-its-dying-linebackers Drug tests were easy to beat. Gee had 210 career tackles at USC, including 97 as a senior in 1991, and was a member of USC’s 1989 and 1990 Rose Bowl squads. He tries rehab but it never lasts. Their life together is a slapstick comedy soaked in alcohol and drenched in blood. The bridge from age 20 to age 50 looks a lot shorter after you cross it. gunshot wound to the chest . Always generous with his time, knowledge, and compassion, he touched the lives of countless USC and high school football fans. “This is how they rolled,” she says. There is no simple answer. Los Angeles is a single city when you don’t live there, and a hundred cities when you do. Even among the boys at USC, Scott Ross was a wild one. Anybody looking for him was wise to start at the beach. Per Sports Reference, USC has had 26 linebackers drafted since 1966 who had a career approximate value of 24 or better. In David’s last days, Leslie removes a bandage from his ear. Corey had watched as high school opponents steered their offenses away from Matt, they were so scared of him; watched Matt move to middle linebacker, where nobody could hide. Close friends know he is having health problems, but they don’t see the root of them. Naomi Osaka isn't fazed by her brutal draw, Venus Williams showed tremendous courage and more from the midway point of the Australian Open. He is a master at hiding the dots that mark his descent. But the drive ended on downs and USC’s upset bid had just missed. The team posted a 13-3 record and won the AFC West for the third time under Marty. On May 13, 2002, Robert finds his brother in bed, physically able to rise but unwilling to. After one spring practice, Turner had a change of heart and decided to return to USC. As an attorney for Farmers Insurance, Craig Hartsuyker studies mortality rates as part of his job these days, and he knows an outlier when he sees one. Let me in!” loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. That his white undershirts were old and discolored. Eventually, though, Alana starts to realize the alcoholism is hiding something larger. USC's dying linebackers: In 1989, USC had a depth chart of a dozen linebackers. Chesley collides with a teammate and feels the L.A. www.si.com. . A week later, Alana takes Tanner to Park City, Utah, because she has promised him for two years that she would take him skiing, and Matt seems like he is on an upswing. His 1989 rookie season was one of the best the NFL has ever seen. J.R. Chesley missed his last college season with shoulder injuries; now he works for State Farm insurance in Washington, D.C., and he feels sharp. Seau was found unconscious in … She would rather die first. Scott returns to Louisiana, to be a father to Caroline again, but she’s a teenager with her own life, and he has an addiction with no life of his own. He hears his wife, Alana, say, “I’m so sorry,” and he sobs. Anything to feel fearless and reckless, wild and free. Scott is now like a little kid, grateful to live with his parents, telling them all the time that he loves them. When finally Laura kicks him out, he stands outside, screaming, “Laura! Twelve dreams. David develops lesions on his face, especially around his ears, from too many hours in the sun, for too many years, and his family pushes him to see a doctor. He barks, “Why is nobody taking out the trash?” instead of taking it out himself. He was a hermit.”. There’s no ammunition in the gun, but she hides it anyway. Wilson (middle row, far left), alongside Gee (top left), coach Roggeman (far right) and Ross (top, center). Matt played fullback, too—every snap, on both sides of the ball. He goes to a treatment facility in Pasadena, comes home, relapses, goes to a detox center and works with a doctor—another former USC alum—and comes home again. USC linebacker Junior Seau walks the field before a game against Notre Dame on Oct. 21, 1989 in South Bend, Ind. He struggles to go up and down stairs. He gets into a fight with some teenagers at a Taco Bell. . Try driving the 80 miles from Simi Valley to Orange County when there’s traffic (and there is almost always traffic). Don’t call an ambulance, Alan tells Robert. How do you tell your brother his brain is failing? Back in Texas, Scott rents a little house on a lake, then moves into a friend’s trailer. David signs the cards: XO 44. A sport whose deepest goal is to inflict the greatest pain on an opponent without killing/paralyzing him(fine line) has got to bring consequences to all participants, down the line. But his brain’s decay is irreversible. There is no good answer. What those Trojans did not see: Alan’s laughing with his family, or taking his kid brothers to Lakers and Dodgers games, or buying flowers for his mom every year on Mother’s Day. Clay Matthews (photo above) was a super All-America inside linebacker for the Trojans in 1977. I can’t live with this pain anymore.” Alana can’t take it. Junior Seau . David grew a nasty-looking goatee, wore huge globs of eye black during games, crushed teammates in the weight room, instigated fights at practice and told the Los Angeles Times, “I have good technique, but I prefer to run over ’em.” Off the field, though, David was chill. I want doughnuts!” He has the strength of a man, the exuberance of a boy and the brain of a troubled and lost soul. Not all of the old Trojans feel this way, but Delmar felt it back at school. Nobody is surprised. We’ll pay for it. The short answer is that, no, Matt did not kill himself. Carter doesn’t hesitate in saying he is great.… Michael Rosenberg of Sports Illustrated wrote this longreads piece on the 12 linebackers who were part of the 1989 USC Trojans football roster. His second wife was named Marla but he called her “Princess,” and he treated her like one. From there, Scott declines. The doctor also warns: “Be prepared. The demons are the only companions he doesn’t abuse. London made a game-winning 21-yard TD grab with 1:20 to play in … It was common to see him get in fights at parties and unusual to see him lose. Complaints are for the weaker. The Trojans, coached by Larry Smith, had a 35-12-2 record during Ross’ time on the team. Instead, he said, “You guys were lucky.”. A-Dub is in bed, dead. A-Dub did not attend parties or play practical jokes on teammates; he conversed but rarely started conversations. 43 years old. Junior was a Samoan from San Diego. He blows up his life. He steals Laura’s credit card to buy liquor. He barely thinks, though, about his concussions, which number at least a half-dozen. Meanwhile, his body starts failing. He has been sober, he has recently recovered from an infection, and Alana thinks it is O.K. Junior became a Pro Football Hall of Famer—such an enormous star over 19 NFL seasons that most of his old teammates rarely saw him. . And that’s five. From being a pit reporter to a cameo in “Fantastic Four," Little has done it all. Kurt Barber survived 50 NFL games as a human pinball; then he went into coaching, eventually taking a job at his old high school, in Kentucky. He has no idea what time of day it is. He remembers birthdays but forgets words. was an asshole,” Matt says into a camera, a line that gets laughs only because it is said out of love, by a longtime pal. Matt Gee always says that “Junior does what Junior wants,” and what Junior Seau wants on this day is to die. Ross, who says he would run through a brick wall for Rogge, breaks a hand and keeps playing. He yells at his sons for minor transgressions. He bought groceries and grilled dinner and played with his son (Zachary, from one marriage) and daughter (Caroline, from a second). Laura Lee Fitzgerald will never be able to fully explain why she takes Scott into her home in Paso Robles, Calif. Love is a woefully insufficient answer. And still, in a life with so few constants he has Matt, there in his past, there in his present, there to answer the phone. Matt drives home from Eggs ‘N’ Things in Simi Valley, Calif., with tears in his eyes. I can think of three of them, Matt Gee, Junior Seau and Scott Ross. In January 2020, Alana Gee sits at Eggs ‘N’ Things in Simi Valley, at the same table where she and Matt were sitting eight years earlier when they found out about Junior Seau. Matt has already learned about Junior’s death over breakfast, on the news; Alan’s by word of mouth; and Scott’s on a phone call. Sometimes Alana wakes up in the dark and finds him standing over her, yelling, because he called her phone from the other room and she didn’t answer. Matt Gee is dead. Once, the two went swimming in the Pacific, and Junior swam up to a dolphin and grabbed its fin. Twelve linebackers on the Trojans’ depth chart in the fall of 1989, each with the strength of a man and the exuberance of a boy, swimming in everything USC has to offer: joy and higher education and adulation, endless adrenaline surges, alcohol, cocaine if they want it, steroids if they need them. Four out of 12. “You’re living a life most men would die for.”. You did this to me!” And then: “Why did you let me play football?”. Matt doesn’t care. Craig Hartsuyker is the heady technician. But he believes this is a product of age, not of football. When Laura finds him in a hotel, surrounded by bottles of pills, she finally tells him it’s over. Five Have Died, Each Before Age 50 The foundation had just celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Junior Seau Celebrity Golf Classic from March 10-12. USC’s Tragic Linebacking Corps of 1989. to spend a couple of nights outside her house for the first time in years. The only other program with … He doesn’t have health insurance, though, and he tells them not to worry about it. He just knows that he loved David when he was 20, loved him when he was 47, and he will not see him reach 48. It was a year when tacklers were taught to lead with their heads. Scott tries to hang himself in the attic. He regularly calls a childhood friend, Corey Yeager, at 4 a.m., just to chat. Alana FaceTimes Matt and says she will be home soon, but on the day she plans to return, on New Year’s Eve, she gets another call. The official cause of death is heart failure. Vaughns had 406 receiving yards (12.3 average), while soph London had a USC-best 502 receiving yards (15.2 avg). Matt became a successful businessman, happily married to his college sweetheart, raising three kids, proud of what his USC career begat. Twelve names. . None of them died on the field, but for each former Trojan, football was inextricably tied to mortality. Link to tweet In 1989, USC Had a Depth Chart of a Dozen Linebackers. Every player ahead of him on that list was a linebacker. With four linebackers gone, and the remaining scattered across the country, Matt continues running a commercial insurance firm, but he is thinking about changing careers. Scott was a good husband, once. One Sunday, he takes Caroline to get doughnuts. . Matt tells David’s sons about noodling for catfish back in Kansas and on one visit brings along a cowboy boot that belonged to David in college. . He pins her against a wall and starts choking her. The Gees have plenty of money, the lube in America’s health care system, and Alana persuades Matt to spend $60,000 on a one-month rehab stint in Malibu. His parents and his brothers believe the connection is clear but indirect: If David’s brain had functioned properly, if he had it all together, he would have seen a doctor earlier, and he would probably be alive. He has figured out how to be both a responsible adult and a goofy kid. Brian Tuliau? possible suicide. He feels it even more now. Alan Wilson is not close to Matt, but he is not that close to anybody. Hartsuyker? He has spent a lifetime as a helper; he does not know how to be helped. Besides, Matt loved football. Finally, Marla hears Caroline calling: “Momma, I can’t wake up Daddy.” Scott is passed out drunk. The mind reels. Scott gets nuclear drunk, runs naked in the streets, trashes the place and gets kicked out of there, too. His fuse gets shorter. Five died before turning 50. He was ahead of Matt Gee on the depth chart in 1989, but he and Scott Ross helped groom Matt for a starting job. At 42, he is not yet used to watching his teammates die. He puts blackout shades in his bedroom, but they block only the light. #1. They marry as he is dying, and they throw a big party so friends can say hello to David. He gets his stomach drained, he has a Denver shunt put in his arteries, he has sleep apnea, he is obese. They are too polite to ask. I’m not O.K.,” and Alana asks, “What do you mean?” He cannot explain it. Alana does not need the money, but she does need an answer to the final question of her husband’s life: Did he choose to become a different person, or did his brain rebel against him? They do not know he has diabetes and hypertrophic heart disease. Gosh, wasn’t it just yesterday that they were college kids hanging at David’s house, sitting in his family’s hot tub all day, getting up only to grab a hot dog or go to the bathroom? In 2011, Scott moves to Houston to live with Janie and Marshall, and Marshall retires early to take care of his son. In the opening game of ’97, Kansas City lost to Denver 19 to 3. He grabs his mother by the arms and screams, “It’s all your fault! His good is worth it, she tells herself. © 2021 ABG-SI LLC. He goes to a halfway house, hates it and drinks rat poison, which gets him sent to a hospital. Matt knew him too well, loved him too much. Alana thought that was ridiculous, but she also kind of loved it. He drinks too much. He spends so much time at the hospital that his medical records grow into an impenetrable stack. When Matt starts to feel down again, he combats it by staying busy, trying to distract himself. He says he tried to kill himself in a bathtub. Marla believes Scott drove to the church hoping somebody would help him and then drank himself to death. They go to therapy together. One day Matt falls in the kitchen and hits his head, and a friend tells Alana what she has not let herself see: “He’s a f------ alcoholic.”, Alana, who says her mother struggled with drinking, does not keep liquor in her home. This is how the game is played. He suffered concussions in college, but he feels good. If a man wanted to live to 50, he was better off sharing a foxhole with Tom Roggeman in Korea than he was playing linebacker for USC in 1989. Outwardly, he seems like the same old amiable boy from Kansas: quietly generous, eager to help friends, enjoying the life he built with Alana. “I’m thinking, Wow, football messed you up like that. The general consensus is Reggie Carter is a good linebacker. He speaks proudly of his glory days at USC, about Matt and the boys, but he gives away his Rose Bowl ring to his dentist. His new girlfriend, Leslie, comes home from work, ready to go out for the dinner they’d planned, but David and his boys are still in pajamas. He founded WeAreSC in 1998 and was an Emmy winner for his work with Fox Sports West. Matt takes David to various doctors. Some of those Trojans wonder, to themselves and to one another: Who is next? Marla takes Caroline home to Louisiana. He starts arguing more with Alana. Both CTE and his multiple infarcts likely contributed to his mood, behavioral and cognitive dysfunction. . They met on their recruiting weekend at USC and became fast friends, later sneaking out of their team hotel on the eve of the 1990 Kickoff Classic so they could see New York City. Five of the 12 … Somebody sets him on the floor in front of a television, like a toddler. Notre Dame had the best teams of the Lou Holtz era in 1988-89 and the Irish were ranked #1 in the country. The linebackers think they are paying the game’s price in real time. He picks up Tanner from a high school lacrosse game, then pushes his son up against a car and scolds him: “I can’t believe you were drinking!” When Alana asks what happened, though, Tanner says, “Mom, he picked me up drunk.”. Discussion in 'GarryP's Trojan Huddle' started by Area51Trojan, Oct 3, 2020. The cancer has spread, and he is dying. Delmar, though, doesn’t appear to be struggling. After their playing days ended and they all dispersed, most never saw Alan again. He has a steady job in pharmaceutical marketing, in D.C. Scott makes pictures for Laura with sparkle paint—but he also steals her maroon Jeep Cherokee. Well, it has to be something. He was a successful salesman, first for Hilti and then for 3M, flashing his charm and his Rose Bowl ring to close deals. He turns on the water, and Robert leaves for his janitorial job. https://www.si.com/college/2020/10/07/usc-and-its-dying-linebackers Players remember that he was one of the hardest hitters. Another time, he gets concussed on a kickoff, tells trainers he is fine, finishes the game and later shows up on fraternity row with no recollection of playing that day. . Finally, he comes to understand: The best he can do is just be there. Usually. Scott will be either dead or in prison within a year.”.

Logistic Regression Springer, Old Wiring No Ground, Purewick Eucalyptus Spray, Discount Wicker Furniture, Imprimir Canciones Cristianas, Overload/underload Bat Program, I'm Looking For A Lady, Ride Concepts Sizing, Norah Jones 2020, Latex Rug Pad Hardwood Floor,