Posted on 02/24/2010 9:44:15 AM PST by massmike
Mosi Tatupu, a fan favorite who played 13 seasons for the New England Patriots, died Tuesday at age 54.
Ashley O'Brien, a spokeswoman for Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, Mass., said Tatupu was pronounced dead at the hospital. She did not give a cause.
Tatupu played 13 seasons with the Patriots, starring as a special teams player (making the Pro Bowl in 1986) and as a jack-of-all trades running back. He was one of the most popular players of his era and even had his own cheering section at Schaefer/Sullivan Stadium called "Mosi's Mooses."
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Wow. Really young. You have to wonder if performance enhancing drugs didn’t affect the heart . . . .
Wow. What horrible news.
He was a throwback before they throwbacks were cool.
A hardworking everyman who brought his A game every week!
RIP.
I believe he played his college ball at USC.
The life expectancy of NFL players is decidedly lower than that of the general population.
As did his son, Lofa, after a year at Maine.
That’s right: he was a member of USC’s 1974 national championship team. RIP.
RIP, Prayers for his family, friends and loved ones.
RIP
Much too young to die.
Not a good week for the NFL.
Another Boston athlete gone way too soon.(Harry Agganis,Reggie Lewis,Ace Bailey,Marquis Hill,Larry McGrew,Daryl Stingley,Jim Nance,Dennis Johnson,Tony Conigliaro,to name just a few...)
A 1994 study of 7,000 former players by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found linemen had a 52 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease than the general population. While U.S. life expectancy is 77.6 years, recent studies suggest the average for NFL players is 55, 52 for linemen.
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/29/Sports/A_huge_problem.shtml
Was he Samoan, Tongan, or Polynesian? I have noticed lately that USC, Utah, and BYU have a lot of Pacific Island players that are making it in the NFL.
From what I understand, those islands have large Mormon missionaries, so BYU and Utah make sense.
Just before the Super Bowl in 86 (Pats/Bears), there was a parody song airing on what I think was the Eddie Andleman show (forget what station had him at the time; WHDH 850?) set to the tune of the New Orleans tune My Toot Toot
Don’t mess was Tatupu
Whatever you do, do
He’ll make you bear stew, stew
etc
Samoan,
He was also carried the ball during snow games. He was great running in the snow.
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