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Today in Patriots History
RIP Marquise Hill
RIP Marquise Hill
The body of Marquise Hill was found mid afternoon on May 28, 2007. The 24 year old defensive end was a second round pick of the 2004 draft from Louisiana State University.
Death of Patriots' Hill is ruled accidental drowning
The death of New England Patriots defensive end Marquise Hill, who fell off a personal watercraft Sunday in Lake Pontchartrain, was ruled an accidental drowning Tuesday.
Hill spent much of his free time and his NFL paycheck helping loved ones rebuild in the hurricane-damaged city where he grew up.
Aiding others came naturally to him, and distraught relatives on Monday said Hill died a hero after the former LSU star helped save the life of a former high school classmate who could not swim.
While the woman survived by grabbing a piling and holding onto it until she was rescued, the 24-year-old Hill, who friends described as a good swimmer, drifted away and disappeared until searchers pulled his body from the water on Monday afternoon, about 17 hours after the accident.
"He was a hero until the end," his cousin, Elaine Hill Blackshire of Alabama, told the Boston Herald for Tuesday's editions. "He made sure he got her to safety. I'm just so sad that he lost his life, but he wouldn't have had it any other way. If he had saved himself, and knowing she couldn't swim, he couldn't have lived with himself.
"He thought of others first. He was just that kind of person."
"I lost a brother, man," said Patriots defensive lineman Jarvis Green, a fellow Louisiana native and former LSU player. "He was a funny guy. ... He'd just sit there and talk to you, say some funny things off his head that'd make you laugh. He was good to be around."
Hill's agent, Albert Elias, said he spoke with Hill's friend and said she either couldn't swim or was having difficulty doing so.
"Marquise knew this, and being a strong swimmer, he was instructing her as he drifted away in a different direction to stay calm and don't fight the water. He found a buoy or piling behind her and told her to let the current take her to that. She listened to him and it pretty much saved her life," Elias said.
The woman was sent to Tulane Medical Center, where she told authorities that Hill had tried to keep her calm as the two were drifting away from each other.
"It's so important to have a life jacket and a signaling device," Atkeson said. "One keeps you afloat and the other helps us find you."
Elias said the player spent much of his time since Hurricane Katrina helping rebuild the homes of family members including his mother and the mother of his son.
The Patriots wore number 91 on their helmet in memory of Hill for the full 2007 season.
Patriots DE Hill killed in jet ski accident
NEW ORLEANS — The body of Patriots defensive end Marquise Hill was found Monday, a day after he was reported missing following a jet ski accident on Lake Pontchartrain.
www.southcoasttoday.com
Boston athletes who saw their careers cut short by tragedy:
- Harry Agannis: The 26-year-old Boston University product and Red Sox phenom died unexpectedly when he was struck by a massive pulmonary embolism during the 1955 season.
- Tony Conigliaro: Struck in the face by a pitch during a 1967 game, the Red Sox star suffered a broken cheekbone and severe damage to his left retina. Although he was named Comeback Player of the Year following his 1969 return, Conigliaro’s vision deteriorated, forcing his 1975 retirement at age 30.
- Darryl Stingley: Struck by a then-legal hit from Raiders’ DB Jack Tatum in a 1978 preseason game, the Patriots receiver was left paralyzed from the neck down. He spent the remainder of his life in a wheelchair.
- Normand Leveille: A defective blood vessel in his brain made the unwitting 19-year-old Bruins winger vulnerable to a check by Vancouver winger Marc Crawford in 1982 that caused a brain aneurysm, put Leveille into a three-week coma and ended his playing days.
- Len Bias: Suffered a fatal heart attack believed to have been triggered by a cocaine overdose less than 48 hours after he was drafted by the Celtics in 1986.
- Reggie Lewis: After an irregular heartbeat sidelined Lewis in the 1993 playoffs, the Celtics’ captain died of a heart attack while practicing at the team’s training facility later that summer.
- Travis Roy: Crashed head-first into the boards 11 seconds into his first official shift with the Boston University hockey team in 1995 and was paralyzed from the neck down.
- Marquise Hill: The Patriots’ second-round pick from the 2004 draft was found dead Monday in Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain after disappearing in a jet ski accident on Sunday.
