August 24.2005______________________
Il!f JJiirthtnh © bseruer EMBRACING DIVERSITY____________________
S ports
Weight Questioned in Player’s Death
der such m ild conditions, the notion that
Herrion, or any football player, is in good
enough shape to handle rigorous gam e
conditions sim ply because h e’s a profes­
sional athlete is being questioned all over
again.
The first-year guard, a longshot to m ake
the final roster, was listed at 6-foot-3, 310
pounds, about average for an N FL line­
man. But w hen m easured on the body-
mass index scale, w hich is a com m only
accepted standard o f fitness in the m edical
com m unity, H errion w ould be considered
“severely obese.”
A nd though obesity c a n ’t necessarily
be blam ed for the death - at least not at this
point - one expert says it surely could have
been a contributor.
“ Y es, it co u ld be to ta lly u n related to
his w eight, b u t the fact rem ain s that he
w as 6-3 and he w eig h ed 3 1 0 p o unds and
p robably sh o u ld have been 210 p o u n d s,”
said Dr. Jo y c e H arp, a U n iv ersity o f
N orth C a ro lin a e n d o c rin o lo g ist w ho re ­
cen tly d id a study ca lc u la tin g the B M Is
o f all N FL p la y ers and fo u n d that alm o st
all p lay ers q u a lifie d as o v erw eig h t o r
o b e se .
300 pound linemen
typical in football
(A P) — T he D enver coroner’s office
perform ed an autopsy on San Francisco
49ers player T hom as H errion, but said no
cause o f death could be determ ined until
toxicology tests were perform ed. The tests
usually take about three to six weeks.
T he 49ers backup offensive linem an
collapsed near his locker a few m inutes
after Saturday nig h t’s gam e against the
D enver Broncos ended. He was rushed to
the hospital, and shortly afterw ard, pro­
nounced dead at age 23.
H errio n 's death once again shined a
spotlight on the overall health o f NFL
players, especially the linem en, w ho rou­
tinely w eigh in at m ore than 300 pounds.
It cam e four sum m ers after offensive
linem an Korey S tringer o f the M innesota
V ikings died o f heatstroke follow ing a
practice in steam y 90-degree w eather.
T em peratures w ere now here near that
Saturday night - m id-60s with 50 percent
hum idity when H errion w as on the field.
A nd w hile heatstroke is still possible un-
T h o m a s Herrion
Hall of Fame Coach Honored: Light shines on early NFL history
(A P) — Fritz Pollard, the first
black head coach in NFL history,
has been inducted into the Pro
Football Hall o f Fam e in Canton,
Ohio.
P o lla r d ’s A ug. 7 in d u c tio n
shined a light on the early history o f
the NFL, when Pollard w as an e lu ­
sive running back and coach in a
league reluctant to em ploy black
players.
“For me, I didn ’ t kno w that much
about him until I started reading
and hearing som e things and then
doing the research on it,” said In­
d ia n a p o lis C o lts c o a c h T o n y
D u n gy, one o f six b lack head
coaches in the league today. “ In
the pre-integration o f the gam e, I
think it’s interesting that he not
only played the gam e but coached
it.”
F re d erick D o u g lass P o llard ,
nam ed for the fam ous black aboli­
tionist, stood 5-fo o t-9 and 165
pounds, yet starred at Brown U ni­
versity before turning professional.
T he tw o-tim e A ll-A m erican half­
back becam e the first black player
in the Rose Bowl in 1916.
The C hicago native served in
W orld W ar I and in 1919 he joined
Fritz Pollard w a s th e NF L's first
b la c k c o a c h , a p layer-coach in
th e early 1 9 2 0 s .
the Akron Pros o f the A m erican
P ro fe ss io n a l F o o tb a ll L ea g u e,
w hich was renam ed the A m erican
Professional Football A ssociation
the next year. He led A kron to the
cham pionship in 1920 and becam e
the first black coach in N FL history
w hen he played and served as co ­
coach in 1921.
The APFA was renamed the NFL
in 1922.
Pollard was fast and pow erful,
and one o f the m ain draw s in the
league’s infancy.
AINSWORTH MARKET
5 9 4 9 N .E . 30th A ven u e
P ortland, O R 97211
Pro Hall o f F a m er Fritz Pollard
in 1 9 7 5 fro m h is h o m e in N ew
R o ch elle, N.Y.
“He was a very rugged individual.
... He was excellent in track. He was
a pretty good basketball (player), he
was good at baseball. He was just
almost a natural athlete,” said John
M. Carroll, a history professor at
Lamar University and the author of
the book “Fritz Pollard: Pioneer in
Racial Advancement.”
“Even though he was sm all, I
think he had incredibly good tal­
ents o f speed and also agility.”
He needed all o f his athletic abil­
ity to survive in the league’s early
days because o f his race and size.
T o prevent pile-ons, Pollard w ould
spin on his back and stick his knees
and cleats in the air after he was
tackled, said Fritz Pollard 1II, one of
his grandsons w ho has lobbied for
years for his induction into the Hall
ofFam e.
“In that era, ju st to play, you had
to be tough,” the grandson said.
“T hese guys, they had a regular
job. T his w asn’t their full-tim e job.
T hey had a jo b and they w ould go
out there and this was like a w eek­
end thing to pick up extra m oney for
som ething that they loved."
P o llard p lay ed and at tim es
coached for four N FL team s until
1926. After his N FL career, he orga­
nized all-black team s that played al I
over the country into the m id -1930s
in an effort to get the N FL to sign
m ore black players. It is believed
there w ere no black players in the
league from 1934-46.
Pollard, w ho died in 1986 at age
92, also was a successful business­
man. He ow ned a H arlem music
studio w here artists such as Duke
Ellington rehearsed. He also served
as an entertainm ent agent and ran
a tabloid new spaper.
you
In
Touch
Tiger Woods reacts after missing a birdie on the
1 7th green in Akron, Ohio during the final round o f
the NEC Invitational on Sunday. Woods made par on
17 and 18 in to win the tournament by one shot
over Chris DiMarco at six under par. (AP photo)
Youth Football Signups
Registration is still open for
youth tackle football through the
Police A ctivities League in P ort­
land, Gresham andTroutdale. PAL
serves 23 team s o f youth in the
fourth through eighth grade. A
flag football program in Tigard
will also start this year.
P ra ctices are held in p ark s
m an ag ed by P o rtlan d P ark s and
R ecrea tio n as w ell as v ario u s
school field s. G am e s are h eld on
S atu rd ay s w ith o v e rflo w g am es
s c h e d u le d d u r in g w e e k n ig h t
p ra c tic e s.
T he opening jam b o ree is S atur­
day, A ug. 27, and opening day is
Saturday, Sept. 10. Player signups
will continue until team s are filled.
A pplication form s are available at
ww w.palkids.org or by calling 503-
823-0250.
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