Minutes before the Broncos-49ers kickoff Saturday night, I was visiting with a trusted friend and the conversation unexpectedly, inexplicably veered toward funerals in sports I had covered. My list included ones for George Halas, Derrick Thomas, Rodney Culver and Korey Stringer.
A few hours later, 49ers offensive lineman Thomas Herrion died.
I will not be attending his funeral in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday, but NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue plans to be there, as do 49ers owners John and Denise York, 49ers coach Mike Nolan and his wife, Kathy, a few 49ers players and other 49ers officials. In essence, the entire NFL cadre of players will have Herrion in mind with extra thoughts that turn extremely personal: Could this happen to me?
NFL players often speak of the brutality and violence in their game and we listen, shrug and think little more of it than a broken arm here or a bum knee there. And while we do not know what happened to Herrion, players are hoping it was a pre-existing, uncovered medical condition, not something directly related to their sport.
The 49ers practiced once Monday, not twice, as planned. It was a quiet practice. Grief counselors visited with players, coaches and 49ers front office personnel at the team’s complex. The 49ers will conduct a private team memorial service for Herrion today in the Bay Area.
“The jolt from it alone is so difficult,” said Aaron Salkin, the 49ers’ public relations director. “The thing is our guys witnessed it. It happened right before their eyes.”
Herrion, 23, played in the final minutes of the game at Invesco Field at Mile High and afterward shook hands with several Broncos. He told a 49ers official that he was hungry while walking off the field and added: “Man, I’m going to eat after this.”
A few 49ers fans were hanging over the edge of the tunnel as he walked toward the locker room and were yelling for his gloves. “These gloves?” he asked, joking, repeating it before tossing them into the crowd.
He was in the locker room for Nolan’s brief postgame speech. The team circled to recite the Lord’s Prayer. And then Herrion collapsed.
A medical team worked on Herrion before he was removed and placed in an ambulance. Salkin said the players believed Herrion still was alive before he was placed in the ambulance. They all knew by the way the medical team was scrambling and by Herrion’s weakened condition that it was serious.
The Broncos were talking about Herrion among themselves Monday.
“Had this happened on the field, during the game, it would have been even harder for us,” Broncos defensive end Marco Coleman said. “The question we have now is, what was wrong with him before the game started? Is this directly related to football?”
It is a question that will not be answered until another three to six weeks, until toxicology reports are complete.
But that does not keep the Broncos from wondering, from asking questions about what each one can do to further protect himself in this demanding game.
“This makes guys take a stronger look at their lives outside of football,” Coleman said. “What are you eating? What type of supplements are you taking? Is there anything you are putting inside your body that you need to be more careful with? This is what guys are talking about.”
Coleman lined up against Herrion in the game. He has already reviewed the film of his matchup vs. Herrion and experienced that eerie feeling of seeing someone live on film from hours ago who is no longer here.
“He was a happy-go-lucky kid on the field who seemed to be enjoying the game,” Coleman said. “He played hard. Coaches are always looking for the biggest, fastest, strongest dudes. He was one of them.”
Coleman, 35, enters his 14th pro season and has been playing football for the past 23 years. He has never seen a player die on a football field. He had never experienced one dying soon after a game in which he played.
What a challenge for the 49ers – 2-14 a year ago and building from near scratch with a new coach in Nolan – to move forward with football as the focus.
Every player in the NFL wants to know what happened to Thomas Herrion.
Regardless of whether playing football helped cause his death, everyone is likely anew contemplating the risks of this game.
And it prods most to ask a searing question: Could this happen to me?
Staff writer Thomas George can be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
