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MERGED - Marquise Hill dead after jetski accident in Lake Pontchatrain
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From the Providence Journal
http://www.projo.com/patriots/content/sp_fbn_pats01_06-01-07_V55RSUO.35f0d2b.html
Team grieves Hill’s loss
07:20 AM EDT on Friday, June 1, 2007
BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer
FOXBORO — Last Friday, Richard Seymour and Marquise Hill parted ways after a few days of passing camp at Gillette Stadium.
Today, Seymour and the rest of the New England Patriots will be in New Orleans, saying goodbye to their teammate and friend.
“When I first heard the news, there was a feeling of numbness,” Seymour said yesterday. “He was here last week for OTAs [organized team activities], you go home for the weekend, and one of your teammates doesn’t come back.”
After a two-plus-hour passing camp session — the first OTA open to the media this offseason — Seymour, Ty Warren and Kevin Faulk all spoke about Hill, who died after a Sunday night jet-skiing accident on Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain. Hill was 24 years old, and leaves a fiancée, a 20-month-old son and his mother as well as other family and friends.
Hill’s teammates remembered him as a gentle giant. The 6-foot-6, 300-pound former LSU Tiger was quick with a joke and generally maintained a positive demeanor regardless of what was happening to him on or off the field.
“No matter what he had going on, he had to be one of the funniest guys in the locker room. And it was not just the defensive line. He’d go up and down the locker room, from the offensive line to the punters, and crack jokes with them,” said Warren. “I think that showed his true character, because even though he didn’t play as much as he wanted to, he still came in every day and still made everyone laugh.
“That’s what made him special. Most guys in that situation would have been grumpy or outcast [themselves].”
He was also dedicated to his home city, particularly since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Hill’s dream home was among those destroyed in the storm, and he had nearly finished its renovation. He also helped other family members with their homes.
A second-round draft pick in 2004, Hill struggled to crack the rotation on arguably one of the best defensive lines in the NFL. With perennial Pro Bowler Seymour and top-level performers Warren and Vince Wilfork starting, and Jarvis Green a top pass-rusher off the bench, Hill faced an uphill battle from the day he was drafted. But teammates and coach Bill Belichick, in a statement Monday, maintain that Hill was a very hard worker.
“He’s an energetic guy; he was always coming in early with the coaches, and he’d be sitting at breakfast table when the other guys are coming in,” said Seymour, who referred to Hill in the present tense several times.
Warren noted that things usually work out for the best for someone who works as hard as Hill and has the personality that he had. Seymour said day-to-day issues, like having words with his wife or his four children, are insignificant in light of Hill’s death.
“It was tough coming back in and just walking past his locker because I’m always used to seeing him there,” Seymour said. “I think it kind of hit me a little bit more when I walked past his locker. Guys were looking at each other and really not saying much and not knowing what’s next.”
Seymour revealed that there are flowers by Hill’s locker.
As it was for Hill, football is important to the men, and getting back on the field yesterday was difficult but it was also cathartic.
“Speaking for him, he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way,” Faulk said. “ ‘Do your job’ — that’s the type of person he was.”
Today the team will fly to New Orleans in advance of tomorrow’s funeral service on a plane chartered by owner Robert Kraft. Randall Gay and Jarvis Green, who were teammates of Hill’s at LSU and then in New England, are already in Louisiana with Hill’s family.
http://www.projo.com/patriots/content/sp_fbn_pats01_06-01-07_V55RSUO.35f0d2b.html
Team grieves Hill’s loss
07:20 AM EDT on Friday, June 1, 2007
BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer
FOXBORO — Last Friday, Richard Seymour and Marquise Hill parted ways after a few days of passing camp at Gillette Stadium.
Today, Seymour and the rest of the New England Patriots will be in New Orleans, saying goodbye to their teammate and friend.
“When I first heard the news, there was a feeling of numbness,” Seymour said yesterday. “He was here last week for OTAs [organized team activities], you go home for the weekend, and one of your teammates doesn’t come back.”
After a two-plus-hour passing camp session — the first OTA open to the media this offseason — Seymour, Ty Warren and Kevin Faulk all spoke about Hill, who died after a Sunday night jet-skiing accident on Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain. Hill was 24 years old, and leaves a fiancée, a 20-month-old son and his mother as well as other family and friends.
Hill’s teammates remembered him as a gentle giant. The 6-foot-6, 300-pound former LSU Tiger was quick with a joke and generally maintained a positive demeanor regardless of what was happening to him on or off the field.
“No matter what he had going on, he had to be one of the funniest guys in the locker room. And it was not just the defensive line. He’d go up and down the locker room, from the offensive line to the punters, and crack jokes with them,” said Warren. “I think that showed his true character, because even though he didn’t play as much as he wanted to, he still came in every day and still made everyone laugh.
“That’s what made him special. Most guys in that situation would have been grumpy or outcast [themselves].”
He was also dedicated to his home city, particularly since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Hill’s dream home was among those destroyed in the storm, and he had nearly finished its renovation. He also helped other family members with their homes.
A second-round draft pick in 2004, Hill struggled to crack the rotation on arguably one of the best defensive lines in the NFL. With perennial Pro Bowler Seymour and top-level performers Warren and Vince Wilfork starting, and Jarvis Green a top pass-rusher off the bench, Hill faced an uphill battle from the day he was drafted. But teammates and coach Bill Belichick, in a statement Monday, maintain that Hill was a very hard worker.
“He’s an energetic guy; he was always coming in early with the coaches, and he’d be sitting at breakfast table when the other guys are coming in,” said Seymour, who referred to Hill in the present tense several times.
Warren noted that things usually work out for the best for someone who works as hard as Hill and has the personality that he had. Seymour said day-to-day issues, like having words with his wife or his four children, are insignificant in light of Hill’s death.
“It was tough coming back in and just walking past his locker because I’m always used to seeing him there,” Seymour said. “I think it kind of hit me a little bit more when I walked past his locker. Guys were looking at each other and really not saying much and not knowing what’s next.”
Seymour revealed that there are flowers by Hill’s locker.
As it was for Hill, football is important to the men, and getting back on the field yesterday was difficult but it was also cathartic.
“Speaking for him, he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way,” Faulk said. “ ‘Do your job’ — that’s the type of person he was.”
Today the team will fly to New Orleans in advance of tomorrow’s funeral service on a plane chartered by owner Robert Kraft. Randall Gay and Jarvis Green, who were teammates of Hill’s at LSU and then in New England, are already in Louisiana with Hill’s family.
cka203
GO COLTS!
Flowers by his locker... 
For some reason, that hit me especially hard. Brought tears to my eyes.
To think of these big, strapping, football players bringing flowers to a fallen teammates locker...
For some reason, that hit me especially hard. Brought tears to my eyes.
To think of these big, strapping, football players bringing flowers to a fallen teammates locker...
Brownfan80
Dad of 7, still love the Pats!
cka203 on 06-01-2007 at 09:05 AM said:Flowers by his locker...
For some reason, that hit me especially hard. Brought tears to my eyes.
To think of these big, strapping, football players bringing flowers to a fallen teammates locker...
That struck me as well.