Colt's Head Coach loses his son today to potential suicide

[VikingJuice]

Tony Dungy, head coach of the NFL's top ranked Indianapolis Colts, left the team and headed to Tampa Florida earlier today because his son's body was found in his apartment after an apparent suicide.  Tampa police have initially ruled out any foul play.  An autopsy will be performed in the next day or so.

http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/IND/9112348

I'm personally saddened by this because Dungy is one of those guys who is the real deal.  He's an honest to goodness family man who has conducted himself in the most professional of manners his entire career.  He's a church going Christian and has had strong ties to each of the communities he's coached in over the last 20 plus years.  He's had a personal impact in the cities of Pittsburg, Kansas City, Minnesota, Tampa and now Indianapolis.  In each, he has created charities and foundations that function as public outreach for at risk youth and inner city kids of all ages.  A friend of my family plays for him on this year's squad(and has for 5 years now) and he confirms that the persona you see in publc, is the honest persona of the man in every day life. 

My prayers go out to him and his family because they represent the best that the sports world has to offer and stand as a barometer of how all athletes and coaches should conduct themselves as role models for the public.  God be with them.

[BigDun]

My brother-in-law told me about this today. I was very sad for his family but we both started talking about how this might affect the team. After some discusion we both agreed that after this tragedy, the Colts will rally and nothing will stop them from winning the Lombardi.

[VikingJuice]

My brother-in-law told me about this today. I was very sad for his family but we both started talking about how this might affect the team. After some discusion we both agreed that after this tragedy, the Colts will rally and nothing will stop them from winning the Lombardi.

That's what I was thinking too. 

[snizwilk]

sad stuff.  Dungy seems to be a good guy.. I feel bad for him and his family.  I don't give a crap about the Colts though.

[ReBurn]

Why do you hate horsies?

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[VikingJuice]

Interesting update on this story:

I was in Austin the other day and the guy who was my waiter noticed my father wearing a Colts shirt as we have a family friend who currently plays defensive tackle for the Colts(#96 Josh Williams).  He mentioned the thing about Dungy and we all started talking.  Turns out, this guy just moved to Austin a month ago from Tampa, Florida where hs father is a veteran cop in the area.  His father was one of the first people on the scene and while the family isn't allowing much information out right now, in the coming months, we will likely hear about some underhanded things involved in this situation.  Apparently the son was spending a fair amount of time with the wrong crowd.  From what I've read and heard, the son was the kind of guy who would befriend anyone regardless of stature in life and it looks like he buddied up with some gang folks that were involved in some pretty illicit stuff.  I don't know how involved he was or wasn't directly, but still, it's shaping up to be a cautionary tale of "don't hang out with the wrong crowd" type of thing.