Almost two months after O.J. Murdock passed away, the Hillsborough County (Fla.) medical examiner’s office has officially ruled the cause of death a suicide. The former Tennessee Titans wide receiver died on July 30th.
Interim Medical Examiner, Dr. Mary K. Mainland, signed off on the autopsy report last Friday.
According to Sports Illustrated, O.J.’s family plans to have further investigations into the cause of death…
What remains unclear is what effect, if any, football played in the July 30 tragedy. Murdock was the fifth former NFL player in the last two years to take his own life and the fourth this year — following Kurt Crain (April 10), Ray Easterling (April 19), Junior Seau (May 2) — and his family has consented to his brain tissue being examined by Boston University researchers studying the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease brought on by multiple concussions.
While his family awaits the findings from that study, his death remains a puzzling tragedy for them, his friends, teammates and former coaches. By the accounts of those people who knew him best, Murdock was a happy young soul with a 500-watt smile and fervor to restart his NFL career with the Titans after missing his rookie season last year with a torn Achilles tendon.
“When you met O.J., you fell in love with him. He was a humble young man who just had this great gleam in his eye,” said Hadley Engelhard, his agent.
“He just had a wonderful personality,” said Harry Hubbard, who was Murdock’s head football coach at Middleton High in Tampa. “He had a great smile. He was a loving person.”
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