Chicago Bears’ defensive end Gaines Adams died Sunday morning at a young age of 26. He was found by his girlfriend at his family’s home and he was taken immediately to the emergency room at Self Regional Hospital. Adams was pronounced dead at 9 a.m. ET said Marcia Kelley-Clark, chief deputy coroner for Greenwood County.
In an autopsy performed Sunday by the Anderson County forensic pathologist, it showed that he died of cardiac arrest caused by an enlarged heart, and the death was ruled natural.
But neither he nor Adams’ relatives know about it. “Nobody was aware of any kind of medical condition,” Kelley-Clark said.
Report says that at the time of his death, neither drug abuse nor foul play was suspected but this will not be confirmed until the full toxicology tests result is released for at least two months time.
The Chicago Bears issued the following statement on the death of Gaines Adams: “We are stunned and saddened by the news of Gaines’ passing. Our prayers are with his family during this difficult time.”
Adams was born in Greenwood, South Carolina, and played his college football at Clemson. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round in the 2007 NFL Draft and was later traded to the Chicago Bears during the 2009 regular season.
In this year alone, there are already five NFL players who died. Corey Smith, 29, a Lions defensive end and Marquis Cooper, 26, a Raiders linebacker, was presumed dead on March 6, 2009 after the Coast Guard found their boat overturned. Steve McNair, 36, a former Titans and Ravens quarterback who died in July 4, 2009, in what police said was a murder-suicide. McNair was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds, along with the body of a young woman named Sahel Kazemi. Chris Henry, 26, a Bengals receiver was involved in a car accident and died of trauma in of head trauma on Dec. 16, 2009, after he came out of the back of a truck driven by his fiancee, Loleini Tonga. Then there’s Gaines Adams.
This is indeed a tragic loss for Adams family and for the Bears. He was so young and a person full of promise. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
