Chicago Bears DE Gaines Adams dead at 26

[DeToxRox]

Former Clemson University star Gaines Adams dead at 26 | greenvilleonline.com | The Greenville News

Former Clemson University football star Gaines Adams, 26, died this morning after he was taken to the Emergency Room at Self Regional in Greenwood, County Coroner James T. Coursey said.

Adams, a defensive end, was the fourth player chosen in the 2007 National Football League draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was traded from Tampa Bay to the Chicago Bears in October.

An autopsy will be performed today by a forensic pathologist in Anderson County, Coursey said.

[Noop]

What the hell is going on?

Edit: That is way too young to die and from what I understand he passed away due to heart issues.

Rest In Peace.

[Lathum]

Wow. Crazy. Rip

[DeToxRox]

Seeing it reported a lot of other places now. Terrible shame. RIP Gaines.

[Eaglesfan27]

Wow. Terrible to die so young.

[Neuqua]

Wow.

[Izulde]

Just shocked.

[Dutch]

Very sad news indeed. He was so young...

RIP.

[CU Tiger]

I am speechless....
Its sad that the first place your mind usually goes is a heart issue 26 year old's death would be drugs....while I have had zero contact since he graduated everyone I knew swore he had an impeccable character while in school and certainly was never tied to drug use....

Prayers for his family

[DaddyTorgo]

Wow. Sadness.

[Swaggs]

Very sad news -- way too young.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

WHAT?

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I am speechless....
Its sad that the first place your mind usually goes is a heart issue 26 year old's death would be drugs....while I have had zero contact since he graduated everyone I knew swore he had an impeccable character while in school and certainly was never tied to drug use....

Prayers for his family

Not to be a downer, because it is probably unrelated, but most of the articles that have come out have reported that Adams admitted to drug use while in college. To his credit, he never tested positive while in the NFL.

[tarcone]

Very sad news. I will pray for his family.

He was my favorite player in GMFL. I traded for him and he led my defense, one seasons we won the title.

[BYU 14]

Just shocking to see these athletes due of HCM like this. The instance of this disease in the general population is 1 in 500, but it sure seems to affect more NFL players than that. Who knows whether it is related to the intense training regimen these guys go through, supplements, steroids or just bad luck with genetics.

Regardless of the cause just terribly sad, my prayers go out to his Family.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Not to be a downer, because it is probably unrelated, but most of the articles that have come out have reported that Adams admitted to drug use while in college. To his credit, he never tested positive while in the NFL.

Gaines repeatedly admitted to smoking marijuana....in an almost religious view(sort of Ricky Williams ish)...but THC has never to my knowledge exploded a heart like say, cocaine.

Reports are saying undiagnosed enlarged heart


Just sad.

[endemicFOF]

RIP, although we may never know if this condition affected his play over the past three years, I'd be shocked if it didn't in some small way.

[CU Tiger]

Also,
I guess my statements conflict, and lets just say I dnt necessarily equate Marijuana use as drug use.

[markprior22]

So can an enlarged heart not be diagnosed until death? It seems like this is a fairly common cause of death among athletes any more.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by markprior22

So can an enlarged heart not be diagnosed until death? It seems like this is a fairly common cause of death among athletes any more.

It can be diagnosed before death. Not sure why it wasn't in this case, or perhaps it was and he was being treated for it. If he didn't report symptoms, the necessary tests may never have been done to diagnose it.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

I find it hard to believe the necessary tests weren't done at some point in the past. Most major universities screen their athletes very carefully. Before last season, USC diagnosed their freshman linebacker, Frankie Telfort with this exact condition and as a result he has never played for USC (but remains on scholarship and has done what he can to help the team off field.)

USC Trojans freshman Frankie Telfort can't play due to heart trouble - ESPN

[markprior22]

Interesting...thanks EF

[Peregrine]

Wow that is sad. It's also very strange to me that he died in my hometown - my mom worked at Self Memorial for several years.

[Karlifornia]

Very surprising. RIP, Gaines Adams.

[RainMaker]

Very sad news. He didn't play much when the Bears traded for him. From what I've read and heard, drugs aren't suspected at all. I guess he's a really good guy by all accounts.

Any doctors or nurses on board here? I'd be curious if this was a lifelong issue how it was never diagnosed. From my understanding it's a simple chest x-ray to diagnose and I can't fathom that he never had one before or after he signed his first contract.

Stories like this scare the ever loving shit out of me.

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Very sad news. He didn't play much when the Bears traded for him. From what I've read and heard, drugs aren't suspected at all. I guess he's a really good guy by all accounts.

Any doctors or nurses on board here? I'd be curious if this was a lifelong issue how it was never diagnosed. From my understanding it's a simple chest x-ray to diagnose and I can't fathom that he never had one before or after he signed his first contract.

Stories like this scare the ever loving shit out of me.

Unless its a ridiculously deformed heart a Chest Xray isn't going to show you anything specific.

Sometimes an EKG( II belive thats the right test) can show it as thats what they did to me and then needed further tests to rule out an enlarged heart.

it may also have been enlarged only in one area. When testing me they were worried that only the Left Ventrical(again with my terrible medical language?) was enlarged.


Either way, terrible news.

Not to lessen this news any at all, but do the bears get any sort of compensation from the league when something like this happens? Does any team?

[stevew]

I'm wondering why they didn't do a substantial physical on him when they traded for him less than a year ago. Seems that you would want to tear a guy down to the studs, in order to make sure all his health problems were documented. Then again, they are the Bears.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RendeR

Not to lessen this news any at all, but do the bears get any sort of compensation from the league when something like this happens? Does any team?

I believe there's a cap exemption created for them but other than that nothing I've ever heard of.

[stevew]

It's going to be pretty awkward during the draft when the Bucs use the Bears 2nd round pick.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm no cardiologist, but a chest X-Ray can miss this frequently from what I remember. An EKG sometimes picks it up, but EKG's do not pick it up every time (and probably not even close to every time.) An Echocardiogram certainly would have picked this up, but I doubt every college does this routinely as they are more expensive. If he was symptomatic, I would think he would have gotten one. I'm somewhat surprised that pro teams don't routinely do echocardiograms.

[RainMaker]

Maybe the collective bargaining agreement has something against this, but if I'm an NFL team about to sign a top pick to a huge contract, I run every possible test known to man. I guess it always confuses me when guys making tens of millions of dollars come up with an undiagnosed injury/illness later in life.

[RedKingGold]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Maybe the collective bargaining agreement has something against this, but if I'm an NFL team about to sign a top pick to a huge contract, I run every possible test known to man. I guess it always confuses me when guys making tens of millions of dollars come up with an undiagnosed injury/illness later in life.

Not likely. Without taking the time to look through the agreement, I would bet that rookies are not covered/protected by the Collective Bargaining Agreement in this situation.

If anything, I would bet the player and player agent control the amount of medical information chosen to divulge to teams prior to the draft.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Wow that is sad. It's also very strange to me that he died in my hometown - my mom worked at Self Memorial for several years.

He grew up in Hodges (I assume you know where that is if Greenwood is home) heck played 8 man football in HS...the wake forest failed kick break up, fumble return for a TD will always be a top 5 Clemson memory for me

[NewIdentity]

An enlarged heart in an otherwise healthy individual is also a pretty good indication of long term steroid abuse. Just saying....


My money says long term Anadrol use. IT is a cheap kickass mass builder that will cause liver and heart damage, eventually leading to an enlarged heart and heart attacks.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by NewIdentity

An enlarged heart in an otherwise healthy individual is also a pretty good indication of long term steroid abuse. Just saying....


My money says long term Anadrol use. IT is a cheap kickass mass builder that will cause liver and heart damage, eventually leading to an enlarged heart and heart attacks.

I like your signature quote. I don't have the knowledge to refute what you just posted, so I'll just let the chips fall in regards to that.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

He grew up in Hodges (I assume you know where that is if Greenwood is home) heck played 8 man football in HS...the wake forest failed kick break up, fumble return for a TD will always be a top 5 Clemson memory for me

Sure, Hodges is just a few miles up 254 from where I grew up. Really sad to see such a promising player die so early.

[Mountain]

I taught at Clemson for four years and Gaines was one of my students. He was a good young kid. Soft spoken and worked hard. I probably taught the most difficult class he took at Clemson and he struggled a bit with it. But, to his credit, he never missed class, did the extra projects I offered, and came to see me for help several times during office hours.

I was happy for him and proud when he got his degree and graduated. He was one of those young men who would have never gone to college had football not provided the opportunity for him. He rose to the challenge and made the most of his opportunity. Not many of us can say that.

As to the allusions that he may have been taking a performance enhancing substance, I certainly don't think he did while at college. If you had seen Gaines you would have noticed he was actually a pretty slightly built guy for a football player. I am 6'5 around 280 and was physically larger than Gaines. I also taught a number of other lineman who were all much more massive than Gaines. He did not have the look of a person who used performance enhancers. By that I mean his build in no way looked as if it exceeded his frame.

He was a good young man who was a great comfort to his teammates and his fellow students and he will be missed. RIP

Mountain

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Mountain

I taught at Clemson for four years and Gaines was one of my students. He was a good young kid. Soft spoken and worked hard. I probably taught the most difficult class he took at Clemson and he struggled a bit with it. But, to his credit, he never missed class, did the extra projects I offered, and came to see me for help several times during office hours.

I was happy for him and proud when he got his degree and graduated. He was one of those young men who would have never gone to college had football not provided the opportunity for him. He rose to the challenge and made the most of his opportunity. Not many of us can say that.

As to the allusions that he may have been taking a performance enhancing substance, I certainly don't think he did while at college. If you had seen Gaines you would have noticed he was actually a pretty slightly built guy for a football player. I am 6'5 around 280 and was physically larger than Gaines. I also taught a number of other lineman who were all much more massive than Gaines. He did not have the look of a person who used performance enhancers. By that I mean his build in no way looked as if it exceeded his frame.

He was a good young man who was a great comfort to his teammates and his fellow students and he will be missed. RIP

Mountain

since you're probably feeling this more than most of us...my condolences.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by NewIdentity

An enlarged heart in an otherwise healthy individual is also a pretty good indication of long term steroid abuse. Just saying....


My money says long term Anadrol use. IT is a cheap kickass mass builder that will cause liver and heart damage, eventually leading to an enlarged heart and heart attacks.

That is possible, but an enlarged heart associated with Anadrol use is usally seen when there is a pre-existing condition. Anadrol is toughest on the liver and can produce cysts that may impede heptatic function and in rare cases tumors develop.

It's biggest cardiac risk is elevation of lipids, which can lead to a heart attack.

I think it is best to wait before assuming anything, a lot of times this is just genetic.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Maybe the collective bargaining agreement has something against this, but if I'm an NFL team about to sign a top pick to a huge contract, I run every possible test known to man. I guess it always confuses me when guys making tens of millions of dollars come up with an undiagnosed injury/illness later in life.

The primary purpose of the combine is to get complete medical information on every player. They all are given (previously thought to be very complete) physicals.

[NewIdentity]

One of the Natural Bodybuilding Federations requires all of it's competitors to submit to a lie detector test about their history of steroids; would you have a problem with the NFL doing the same?

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by NewIdentity

One of the Natural Bodybuilding Federations requires all of it's competitors to submit to a lie detector test about their history of steroids; would you have a problem with the NFL doing the same?

Yes, it would be a wast of time for the NFL using bullshit pseudoscience to try and catch steroid users.

[RainMaker]

I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt on this one till some new information comes along. Steroids are really common in athletics and guys aren't dropping dead left and right from heart attacks. My guess is maybe he was on something, but this is an issue that went undetected.

[RedKingGold]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt on this one till some new information comes along. Steroids are really common in athletics and guys aren't dropping dead left and right from heart attacks. My guess is maybe he was on something, but this is an issue that went undetected.

Thank you Dr. Rainmaker.

I am glad you weighed all evidence and decided in your heart of hearts to give Mr. Gaines the benefit of the doubt.

We were all anxiously holding our breath while awaiting your comment.

[CU Tiger]

FWIW guys, Gaines never played football until he was 15.
Then, It was 8 man football in HS where he was a wide receiver.
After graduating he spent one year at Hargrave prep where he lifted weights for the first time in his life, he went from 6-5 215 to 6-5 230 that year and switche from a WR to a DE...He was never accused of being the strongest man in the room, he was lightning fast and could dunk a basketball two handed from a standing start...

I havent hear anyone (outside of this thread and a huge jump of logic) suspect PEDs of any sort.

[NewIdentity]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I havent hear anyone (outside of this thread and a huge jump of logic) suspect PEDs of any sort.

Funny, when I google Gains Adams and Steroids, I get 46,400 links?

The NFL and the Family will cover this up. The tests for drugs will come back clean, and nothing will be mentioned about the health of Mr Adams liver. Everything will be pushed under the carpet, and the Family will be paid off by the NFL.

[RainMaker]

Holy shit, Miley Cyrus Steroids pulls up 187,000. Who'd have thought?

[NewIdentity]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Holy shit, Miley Cyrus Steroids pulls up 187,000. Who'd have thought?

I think Cyrus and steroids/drugs would pull up a lot of hits.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Holy shit, Miley Cyrus Steroids pulls up 187,000. Who'd have thought?

Hell, Lassie and Steroids pulls up 109,000 hits itself. Shamu and Steroids is more controversial than Adams since Shamu and Steroids pulls up 51,200. We clearly need to drug test these fish.

The true scandal is Mother Teresa and Steroids brings up 79,200 hits so either Gaines Adams is cleaner than Mother Teresa, Lassie, Shamu and Miley Cyrus or maybe number of google hits isn't the best argument for or against steroid use but I can't figure out which is more likely.

Ps, Gains Adams Staroids brings up 87,800 hits so maybe it says something about bad spellers.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by NewIdentity

Funny, when I google Gains Adams and Steroids, I get 46,400 links?

The NFL and the Family will cover this up. The tests for drugs will come back clean, and nothing will be mentioned about the health of Mr Adams liver. Everything will be pushed under the carpet, and the Family will be paid off by the NFL.

Who is this troll? Seriously?

Originally Posted by Google

Results 1 - 10 of about 296,000 for NewIdentity + steroids. (0.33 seconds)