Feeling satisfied, if a bit bushed, about his contribution to the long touchdown drive that had finished the game, Thomas Herrion sought out a friendly acquaintance.
The final two seconds at Invesco Field at Mile High had ticked off Saturday night and Herrion, a backup guard with the San Francisco 49ers, converged with Broncos defensive end Aaron Hunt for a chat between friends. This past spring, Herrion and Hunt were teammates for the Hamburg Sea Devils in the NFL’s Europe league.
“He said, ‘Man, I don’t see how you all do it,”‘ Hunt said Sunday, recalling Herrion’s greeting near midfield after the Broncos held on for a 26-21 preseason victory.
Hunt asked Herrion what he meant.
“He said, ‘I don’t see how you can play in this altitude,”‘ Hunt said. “He said he had played at Utah, but in that last drive, the altitude was killing him.”
They talked some more, Herrion asking Hunt if he missed life in Germany, the two messing with each other, as football players do. Then they went their separate ways to their respective locker rooms. Hunt was back at his Denver-area hotel when he got a phone call at 3 a.m. from a mutual friend, 49ers defensive end Tony Brown.
Herrion’s agent, Frederick Lyles, said Sunday team officials told him Herrion died of an apparent heart attack.
Herrion collapsed just after the 49ers finished the Lord’s Prayer. Hunt had showered and left before the news of Herrion’s collapse worked its way to the Broncos’ locker room. Herrion, 23, was pronounced dead at 11:18 p.m.
“It’s crazy,” Hunt said. “Him going into the locker room, I thought he was all right because we had stood out there for five to 10 minutes, just talking, playing around. He was tired, but we all were.
“I know he was probably more tired than us because he was heavier than us. Plus, they were out there for a while. We had even subbed out on the defense, because our defensive linemen were out there for a while.”
It wasn’t just that the 49ers’ final scoring drive took 14 plays and 91 yards (it actually took 96 yards because the series began with San Francisco getting flagged for a false start), ending in a 23-yard touchdown scramble by quarterback Cody Pickett with two seconds remaining. It was also that the 49ers, down 26-14 as the series commenced, used their hurry-up offense.
No huddles. No breathers. The two- minute warning came a little too early in the drive. For Herrion, who was listed at 315 pounds, it was block, run, set, block again and run some more at 5,280 feet.
As a third-stringer, Herrion didn’t get the number of practice repetitions the linemen topping the depth chart did.
Broncos offensive lineman Tyson Clabo wishes he could have said goodbye to Herrion on Saturday. Clabo also was Herrion’s teammate with Hamburg in the spring.
To Clabo, Herrion always was the guy right across from him. Clabo was Hamburg’s right tackle, while Herrion played left tackle. Off the field, Herrion’s hotel room was directly across the hall from Clabo’s.
“Thomas did a lot of things right,” Clabo said. “We were in Europe – this doesn’t have a lot to do with it – but in Europe, we had a lot of free time and he never drank (alcohol) the whole time we were there. He took pretty good care of himself, you know?”
A second-quarter ankle sprain Saturday left Clabo on the sideline and unavailable for postgame mingling. Sunday morning, Clabo called Hamburg teammates Eric Wilson and Rodney Reed, offensive linemen who are in the Miami Dolphins’ training camp, to commiserate.
“It’s something that hasn’t really set in,” Clabo said. “To live across the hall from a guy for three months, a guy 23 years old, the last thing that crossed my mind was he was going to have a heart attack.”
Clabo said he and Herrion never came out of a game during the European season, which runs from March to late May. And it was hotter there than it was Saturday night in Denver.
“We’re talking 80 plays a game,” Clabo said. “I don’t know how many plays he had (Saturday) night, but it was nowhere near as many plays we had every game in Germany.”
Clabo remembers Herrion’s love of dancing. Hunt recalled how Herrion, who played the drums in his church choir, loved to sing. Always sober, always the life of the party.
Ron McBride, Herrion’s head coach at Utah for one season, eulogized his former offensive lineman Sunday morning at the Calvary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City.
“We’d come out of meetings and he’d be playing the piano at the team hotel,” McBride said Sunday. “He was one of those kids you loved seeing every day.”
On his final day, Herrion had done a good job keeping Broncos defensive tackles Dorsett Davis and Demetrin Veal off Pickett, who teamed with former Colorado running back Bobby Purify to move the ball downfield.
Pickett’s touchdown run did not prevent the 49ers from losing, but it did put Herrion in a good mood in the final minutes of his life.
Near midfield, Hunt was among Herrion’s final witnesses.
“I’m just glad the last time I saw him, he was smiling,” Hunt said.
And what were some of Herrion’s final words?
“He said, ‘Call me,”‘ Hunt said. “And he was smiling.”
Preseason tragedy at Invesco Field at Mile High
A look at the final minutes of San Francisco 49ers guard Thomas Herrion, who died Saturday night shortly after the preseason game against the Broncos:
10:25 p.m.: After a false start backed them up to their 4-yard line, the 49ers, with Herrion lined up at left guard, march 96 yards in 14 plays to score with two seconds remaining.
10:28 p.m.: After an out-of-bounds kickoff, Broncos’ fifth-string QB Chad Friehauf takes a knee to end the game. The Broncos win 26-21.
10:36 p.m.: Herrion concludes his visit with Broncos defensive end Aaron Hunt near midfield. Herrion and Hunt were teammates for Hamburg, Germany, in the NFL Europe league that concluded in late May. During his chat with Hunt, Herrion mentions the punishing effects of altitude.
10:37 p.m.: As Herrion, who wore No. 72, walks off the field, he has his face mask pushed up above his eyebrows, showing no signs of distress. He talks with a few fans. One Broncos fan yells, “Go home, 72.” Once inside, Herrion jokes with the team nutritionist.
10:40 p.m.: 49ers coach Mike Nolan gives a brief team speech to the players.
10:44 p.m.: After Nolan’s talk, the team recites the Lord’s Prayer. Immediately after the prayer, Herrion collapses. Team medical personnel attends to him, telling the players to get back.
10:49 p.m.: EMTs enter the visiting locker room, and an ambulance is backed up to the entrance.
10:55 p.m.: Herrion is wheeled out on a gurney. A medical personnel official was pumping Herrion’s chest as others were navigating the gurney into the ambulance. Once inside the ambulance, the medical officer continued to pump Herrion’s chest. The ambulance drove to St. Anthony’s Central hospital.
11:18 p.m.: Herrion is pronounced dead at St. Anthony’s of an apparent heart attack.
(MIKE KLIS, ADRIAN DATER, BILL WILLIAMSON)
Staff writer Natalie Meisler contributed to this report.
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
