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Vikings return to practice field
Updated: Friday August 03, 2001 3:13 PM
By Don Banks, Sports Illustrated MANKATO, Minn. -- Two decades in the NFL and the repetition of maybe 5,000 or so football practices didn't prepare Gary Anderson for Thursday morning. For the sight of an entire team playing football with their hearts on their shoulders. "The thing I was thinking when I came out here this morning was, I thought I had seen it all over 20 years," said Anderson, the Minnesota Vikings veteran kicker. "There are a lot of risks. This a violent, rough game and players know you can end your career any second out here on the field, blowing out a knee or a shoulder. But you don't expect to lose a life out here." Anderson and the rest of his teammates got back to the business of football about 10:30 a.m. EDT Thursday, one day after training camp shut down over the heat-related death of offensive tackle Korey Stringer. But noticeably missing was any feeling of play among the still-mourning Vikings. Less than 32 hours after the death of Stringer, the team went through the paces of their regularly scheduled morning workout. At times, it was just that -- a team, still subdued, going through the motions of football. "For me, it was awful," said punter Mitch Berger, a close friend of Stringer's who has been asked to speak at his funeral in Warren, Ohio on Monday. "I kept looking for him all day. But I couldn't find him."
There were reminders of Stringer everywhere on and around the Minnesota State University, Mankato practice fields. From the pre-workout prayer that offensive line coach Mike Tice led his encircled players in, to the signs and floral memorials that lined the chain link fences. "This was most solemn, subdued, somber practice I've ever been at," Anderson said. "There was just a quietness about the whole thing. Early this morning we had a team meeting to talk about it. And [head coach] Denny [Green] described it as subdued football. He said we're going to tone it down a little bit. We're just going to do our jobs out there." NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue ordered teams to monitor all players to avoid heatstroke following Stringer's death. Tagliabue told all 31 teams in a memo Thursday that executives, coaches and team medical personnel should meet regularly to discuss practice conditions, particularly in hot weather. The commissioner held a conference call Thursday with three doctors and four trainers who serve on the medical committee. He will talk again with them Monday. The group includes Dr. Jon Browne of the Kansas City Chiefs, president of the NFL Physicians Association, and Ronnie Barnes of the New York Giants, who heads the trainers group. The others are Drs. Elliott Pellman of the New York Jets and Andrew Tucker of Baltimore as well as trainers Pepper Burress of the Green Bay Packers, Jim Maurer of the Dallas Cowboys and Micheal Ryan of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Thirty minutes into the Vikings' practice Thursday, the offensive and defensive units gathered together for the first team drills of the day. All eyes shifted to Stringer's familiar right tackle spot. In his place was four-year veteran Chris Liwienski, who had been slated to start at left guard. Eight-year veteran Corbin Lacina, the line's sixth man, will now shift to left guard. But football was the least of anyone's concerns on this day. Stringer's void on the field might or might not be filled. His place in the heart and soul of the Vikings team won't be replaced anytime soon. "I don't think any of us want to or hope to just get over it," said Rev. Keith Johnson, the Vikings team chaplain. "We'll never forget Korey. We have a situation that's taken place that's going to be a permanent part of the landscape. We'll never be able to forget that Korey Stringer died the second day of training camp in the year 2001. That's just always going to be a fact." A standing-room-only crowd of more than 1,000 wanted desperately to cheer someone or some thing, and they found their outlets for that tension when wide receivers Cris Carter and Randy Moss both took turns hauling down spectacular catches late in practice. Originally scheduled to be a full-pads contact practice, the Vikings instead wore shorts, jerseys and helmets in the workout, which featured partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the high 70s, considerably lower than on Tuesday, when the heat index reached into the 100s. Green acknowledged that his team wasn't yet ready to hit, but felt the need to channel some of its grief into on-field work. "We took one step," he said. "This afternoon [at a special teams practice], we'll take another step. We're going to hold the team together and then eventually we'll start putting that championship season back together. We're not working on a championship right now, believe me.
"We're in mourning right now. We're going to be in this type of phase until after Monday. I'm an old-fashioned person. Where I come from, when someone has passed on, the world changes until they're laid to rest." Green instructed his players not to speak to the over-flowing media contingent Thursday, in order to mourn in private. But dozens of reporters lined the field and looked for any member of the organization who would share their thoughts or insights on Stringer. A few did. "We're all still really in shock," Anderson said. "Obviously some people feel some responsibility. Others are close friends of his, or acquaintances or teammates. But the thing that is amazing to me about Big K is I don't know if I've played with anybody who was as well loved by everybody. "We all knew him as a huge big guy, but his heart was as huge as he was as a person. And his loss is just as huge. Everybody just loved Big K." The state of Minnesota began investigating the death to determine whether the Vikings were negligent. The investigation is routine in a workplace fatality. Dr. David Knowles, a Mankato Clinic physician who led the team of doctors working on Stringer on Tuesday, received permission from Stringer's wife to order an autopsy, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Friday. He said he expects to see results in about 10 days. James Honerman, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, said the agency met with Vikings officials "and they were very cooperative with us in our investigation." State officials are talking to the team about "what type of training the staff and employees might have received with regards to heat-related illnesses," Honerman said. The NFL Players Association will create a trust fund to help pay for the education and living expenses of Stringer's 3-year-old son Kodie. The union has created similar trust funs for the surviving children of players who died while still active in the NFL, including San Diego running back Rodney Culver, Kansas City running back Joe Delaney and Miami linebacker Larry Gordon. "The trust we have created will hopefully provide some support to Kodie in trying to cope with the terrible loss of his father. Our prayers are with Kodie, Korey's wife, Kelci, and the rest of the family," said Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFLPA. It wasn't clear whether an autopsy would be performed. The Blue Earth County coroner wouldn't comment Thursday. At Immanuel-St. Joseph's Mayo Health System hospital, where Stringer died and a pathologist sometimes fills in for the coroner, spokesman Kevin Burns said he knew nothing about an autopsy. In general, Burns said, if a death isn't being investigated as a criminal matter, an autopsy isn't done unless requested by family. The Vikings canceled an intrasquad scrimmage Friday night and offered ticketholders the chance to donate their refunds to Korey's Crew, a community program in the Minneapolis area that Stringer established to encourage education, literacy, volunteerism and youth football participation. The team also canceled a scrimmage against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday. A private funeral service was scheduled for Friday in Edina, Minn. Public viewing will follow. A public viewing will be held in Warren, Ohio, Stringer's hometown, on Sunday. A private funeral service and burial will follow Monday in Warren.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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