Junior Seau
| Junior Seau | |
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Position (s): Linebacker |
Jersey number (s): 55 |
| born on January 19, 1969 in San Diego , California | |
| died on May 2, 2012 in Oceanside , California | |
| Career information | |
| Active : 1990 - 2009 | |
| NFL Draft : 1990 / Round: 1 / Pick: 5 | |
| College : USC | |
| Teams | |
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| Career statistics | |
| Tackles | 1849 |
| Sacks | 56.5 |
| Interceptions | 18th |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
| Stats at pro-football-reference.com | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Pro Football Hall of Fame | |
Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau Jr. ([ seɪ.aʊ ]; 19th January 1969 in San Diego , California - 2. May 2012 in Oceanside , California) was an American American football player at the position of the linebackers . He played college football for the University of Southern California and was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the 1990 NFL Draft . With the Chargers he reached Super Bowl XXIX . After thirteen years with the Chargers, Seau played several years for the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots , with whom he was in Super Bowl XLII . From 1991 to 2002, Seau was nominated for the Pro Bowl every year . In 2015, he was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame .
Career
college
In 1988 and 1989, Seau played football in college . He attended the University of Southern California and played for the USC Trojans . In the 1989 season, he recorded 19 sacks and 27 tackles for loss of space, which earned him an All-American nomination .
NFL
Seau was selected by the San Diego Chargers as the fifth player in the 1990 NFL Draft . In his first season he was a starter in 15 of 16 games. In the 1992 season , Seau was able to record over 100 tackles, 4.5 sacks and two interceptions and was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) and United Press International (UPI) .
In 1994 he was with the Chargers in the AFC Championship Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers . In this game, despite a pinched nerve in his neck, he managed 16 tackles, which made a significant contribution to the fact that the Chargers moved into the Super Bowl for the first time. In Super Bowl XXIX , San Diego lost to the San Francisco 49ers .
In 2000, Seau was elected to the National Football League's 1990s All-Decade Team . In all seasons in San Diego from 1991 to 2002, Seau was elected to the Pro Bowl . He played a total of 200 games for the San Diego Chargers before being traded to the Miami Dolphins before the 2003 season . After three seasons in Miami, Seau was sacked by the Dolphins. In the two years before his release, he missed 17 games due to injury.
Then Seau announced his retirement, but four days later signed a one-year contract with the New England Patriots . With the Patriots he won all regular season games in the 2007 season. In Super Bowl XLII, the Patriots were defeated by the New York Giants . He played his last game for the Patriots in the play-off loss to the Baltimore Ravens on January 10, 2010, after which he ended his career.
Private
In 1989, Seau had his first child with his high school girlfriend, Melissa Waldrop. The couple separated 13 months after the birth of his son. In 1992 Seau married Gina Deboer, with whom he had three children. He founded the Junior Seau Foundation to promote underprivileged children and opened his own restaurant. In 2002, his wife divorced him. Later, Seau became addicted to alcohol. On October 18, 2010, Seau fell off a cliff in his car after an argument with his girlfriend. He stated that he fell asleep behind the wheel, but with hindsight it is suspected that it was a suicide attempt.
death
On the morning of May 2, 2012, Seau was found dead by his girlfriend in his Oceanside apartment. The investigations revealed that Seau suicide had committed. Several friends reported that he had suffered from insomnia and was therefore regularly taking the prescription drug zolpidem .
Post-death research by the National Institutes of Health revealed that Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) , which was caused by numerous brain injuries and has already been demonstrated in many other ex-NFL professionals.
souvenir
Nine days after his death, the Chargers held a public prayer in honor of Seau at Qualcomm Stadium in front of around 20,000 spectators, during which it was announced that he would no longer be giving away his jersey number 55 in the future. Before their first home game of the 2012 season , the Chargers Seaus number 55 officially withdrew and wore the 55 on their helmets in his honor. In 2015, Seau was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame . He is the first player of Polynesian descent to enter the Hall of Fame.
literature
- Jim Trotter: Junior Seau: The Life and Death of a Football Icon. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , 2015, ISBN 978-0544811898 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jerry Hinnen: Remembering Junior Seau's All-American USC career on cbssports.com. May 2, 2012, accessed September 3, 2019.
- ↑ a b Tim Keeney: Junior Seau: Ranking the Linebacker's Best Football Moments on bleacherreport.com. May 3, 2012, accessed September 3, 2019.
- ↑ Travis Wakeman: Los Angeles Chargers defining moments: 1994 AFC Championship Game on boltbeat.com. July 4, 2019, accessed September 3, 2019.
- ↑ Miami gets Seau from Chargers on upi.com. April 16, 2003, accessed September 4, 2019.
- ^ Dolphins release oft-injured Seau. In: East Bay Times . March 7, 2006, accessed September 4, 2019.
- ↑ Seau ends four-day retirement, joins Patriots on espn.com. August 20, 2006, accessed September 4, 2019.
- ↑ Seau's apparent suicide stuns Patriots, league on archive.boston.com. May 3, 2012, accessed September 4, 2019.
- ↑ Dylan Fraychineaud: Junior Seau: From Triumph To Tragedy on newarena.com. Accessed September 4, 2019.
- ↑ Shelley Smith: Lives after Junior on espn.com. May 2, 2013, accessed September 4, 2019.
- ↑ Junior Seau dies at 43 on espn.com. May 3, 2012, accessed September 3, 2019.
- ↑ Report: Junior Seau battled insomnia on espn.com. June 1, 2012, accessed September 3, 2019.
- ↑ Heiko Oldbod: NFL professional Junior Seau of the San Diego Chargers suffered from brain disease CTE . In: Der Spiegel . January 12, 2013, accessed September 3, 2019.
- ^ Steve Wyche: Junior Seau remembered by thousands at San Diego celebration on nfl.com. May 11, 2012, accessed September 3, 2019.
- ↑ Junior Seau's No. 55 to be retired by San Diego Chargers on nfl.com. May 11, 2012, accessed September 3, 2019.
- ↑ Darin Gantt: Chargers retire Junior Seau's number in emotional ceremony on profootballtalk.nbcsports.com. September 17, 2012, accessed September 3, 2019.
- ↑ Junior Seau on the Pro Football Hall of Fame website . Retrieved September 3, 2019.
- ^ Richard J. Severson: A Moral Theory of Sports. Rowman & Littlefield , 2019, ISBN 978-1-5381-2887-9 , p. 76.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Seau, junior |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Seau Jr, Tiaina Baul (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American football player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 19th January 1969 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | San Diego , California |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 2, 2012 |
| Place of death | Oceanside , California |