The (Forgotten) Tragedy of Korey Stinger 🏈

For those of you who aren’t aware, I’m a massive Packers fan. Born and raised in Green Bay, WI, you sort of have to be. In fact, I often think about the moment I realized just how important it was to be a Packers fan. More on that at the end.

In today’s newsletter:

🗞 The Big Story: The (Forgotten) Tragedy of Korey Stinger

📉 Biggest Loser: How a 5-inch Statue Broke Philadelphia’s Curse

🏆 Winner’s Circle: Why Do The Packers Ride Bikes To Practice?

The most tragic story in NFL history is one you definitely haven’t heard about, but its impact on the game is still being felt today.

A Star In The Making: Korey Stringer was born in Ohio, earned Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year twice at Ohio State, and was taken with the 24th overall pick in the 1995 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, where he developed into a Pro Bowl right tackle by 2000.

In fact, after reporting to training camp the following season in the best shape of his life, the 6’4”, 336 pound star, was primed to have the best season of his career, but then on July 31, 2001, everything changed.

Summer Heat: See, that summer had been unusually hot by Minnesota standards. In fact, the combination of heat and humidity had actually resulted in Stringer vomiting three times during the opening practice the day prior, at which point he was carted over to the athletic trainer’s air-conditioned trailer.

A local reporter actually snapped a picture of it (above), which appeared the next morning in the local paper. Evidently, this both angered and embarrassed Stringer, so much that he decided to return to practice the next day, and even though the conditions were even hotter, he decided to just push through as most football players had been taught to do their entire lives.

But that’s when things took a turn for the worst.

During that same practice, Stringer slipped during a drill and was carted back to the same air-conditioned trailer from the previous day. The logic at the time was that Stringer was probably just overheating, so the trainers thought letting him rest in an air-conditioned trailer was the best course of action.

Warning Signs: However, after lying on the training table for 50 minutes, the trainers realized he had become unresponsive. And it was only once he was transported to the local hospital that doctors realized his internal core body temperature was 108.8 degrees, leading Stringer to die of multiple organ failure 13 hours later.

Still, maybe the most tragic part of this whole story is that this could have been entirely prevented. Because as former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue now admits, neither the league nor the Vikings were prepared to treat the heatstroke we now know Stringer suffered from.

In fact, if the trainers had simply taken Stringer’s internal temperature and seen that it exceeded 104 degrees, they could have immediately put him in a cold tub, at which point there’s a 100% survivability rate.

Aftermath: Now, the silver lining here is that, following Stringer’s death, new protocols were adopted across all levels of football, which have since helped cut sports-related deaths from external heatstroke nearly in half since 2001.

Stringer is also rightfully honored in the Vikings Ring of Honor.

How did this 5-inch statue break one of the worst curses in sports?

To be honest, I don’t normally believe in curses, but it’s hard to argue with this one.

City of Champions: Throughout the 20th century, Philadelphia had a serious claim to be called the “City of Champions. Starting with the Eagles winning back-to-back NFL Championships in the 40s and another in 1960, to the Sixers winning two in ‘67 and ‘83, the Flyers in ‘74 and ‘75 and the Phillies in 1980.

But then, in 1984, everything changed.

Since the founding of Philadelphia, there had always been a “gentlemen’s agreement” that dictated that no new building would be taller than the William Penn statue that sits atop City Hall.

However, that fateful year, a developer named Willard Rouse defied that tradition by announcing One Liberty Place, a 61-story skyscraper that beat William Penn for highest point in the city by about 400 feet once it was completed in 1987.

Close But No Cigar: And from that point forward, not only did no Philadelphia team win a championship, but between the Phillies heart breaking World Series loss in 1993, the Flyers collapse in the Finals in 1997, and the Eagles three straight NFC Championship Game loses between 2001 and 2003, the city seemed cursed.

Now, by the mid-2000s, most Philadelphia sports fans had chalked all of their teams’ bad luck up to “the Curse of Billy Penn,” since it only started after William Penn’s original statue was supplanted as the tallest point in the city.

Luckily, in 2007, they finally had a chance to make things right.

Seeing The Light: That year, the Comcast Center was being completed. Standing at 974 feet, it was set to become the tallest building in Philadelphia by just 29 feet.

However, unbeknownst to most fans, when the tower was completed, a group of ironworkers left a 5.2” figurine of William Penn on top of the building, ensuring that he would regain his rightful title as the highest point in the city.

And wouldn’t you know it, but the very next season, the Phillies broke the curse when they won the 2008 World Series in just five games.

What’s the Sixers’ excuse now?

Why do the Packers ride bikes to practice?

Well, the short answer is: tradition, but the real answer is actually a lot less wholesome than you might think.

Background: Back in 1957, the Packers moved from Old City Stadium, a high school field they played at in the middle of Green Bay, to what was then called New City Stadium, which was built in the middle of a cornfield to provide ample parking on game day.

However, this setup also created a problem for players; since they now had to walk across a huge parking lot just to get to the practice field.

And recognizing this problem, as early as 1958, there are records of a few kids waiting with their bikes outside of the team’s locker room to shuttle players back and forth to the practice field.

But it wouldn’t be until two years later that the tradition we know today would really be born.

Lombardi Time: Legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi was famous for telling his players to show up at least 15 minutes early for practice. In fact, he even told them that if they showed up any later, they’d be considered late.

This standard, which eventually became known as “Lombardi Time,” is actually still enshrined at Lambeau Field today, with the clock on the outside of the stadium always being set 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

That’s why when future Packers’ Hall of Famers Fuzzy Thurston and Bill Forester were running late to practice one day in 1960, they decided to borrow the bikes of two kids waiting outside of the locker room so they could beat Lombardi down to the practice field and avoid a fine.

The Rest Is History: Now, it’s unclear if they actually made it to the field before their coach, but not long after, Lombardi himself actually gave his blessing to some kids, allowing his players to bike down to the field as long as no one got hurt.

And clearly word got around, because by the end of the decade, one of the greatest traditions in sports was born, and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

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👋🏻 Happy Friday!

Growing up in Green Bay, WI, my family had the same routine every Sunday:

Wake up, eat breakfast, go to 10 AM Mass, watch the Packers game at noon.

I now realize how impactful this order of operations was, and how much it has shaped what I consider important today. The day always started with breakfast as a family, then church, and lastly, the Packers.

However, as I got older, I realized more and more how much those priorities could change. For example, around the time I turned 15, we had a priest who was clearly a season-ticket holder. This meant that the 8 Sundays a year the Packers had a home game, our 10 AM mass would end promptly at 10:45 AM (or even earlier).

For those of you who didn’t grow up Catholic, between all the songs, prayers, communion, etc., a typical Mass is usually at least 60 minutes. But for this priest, he had to be out the door before 11 AM so he could beat the traffic down to Lambeau Field.

So if you want to know what it’s like to be a Packers fan from Green Bay, just know that even for a Priest, the Green and Gold are only slightly less important than religion.