R.I.P. JoJo Nicolas

Man, so sad!!! RIP young man. No most of did not know you as a person, but we could only imagine because your coach consistently talked about the quality of a person you were, not just the type of player you were.

RIP young man!!
 
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I know SMD gets grief from us, but this **** brought a tear to my eye. Cot dammit



Too many sad memories. Now JoJo is gone, but I'm hoping he's reunited with baby LJ, his namesake.







Another Hurricane gone too soon.



I've covered this beat through several UM deaths, all of them horrible.



Linebacker Chris Campbell died at age 21 in a one-car accident in Coral Gables in 2002 a month after the National Championship loss to Ohio State. He developed an infection in his knee before the bowl game and couldn't play, and I can still recall him sitting there disappointed a few days before the bowl game, talking to me in a daze. And I can also still remember visiting the people who owned the house in Coral Gables -- outside of which he barrelled into a huge tree and died from head trauma. He was found to be under the influence of alcohol. Tragic.



DAY OF SORROW AND SHOCK: 'I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S GONE'



BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN, sdegnan@herald.com



Ed Wilkins got the call from University of Miami offensive line coach Art Kehoe at 9 a.m. Saturday. He immediately began to weep.

"I broke down," said Wilkins, a lineman who learned from Kehoe that teammate Chris Campbell, a senior linebacker, was killed when the car he was driving slammed into a tree near campus at about 4 a.m. - three hours after Wilkins saw him for the last time at CocoWalk in Coconut Grove.



"I can't believe he's gone."

Nor can his teammates and coaches, who were told Saturday through a chain reaction of phone calls, or in person by head coach Larry Coker, that the 21-year-old Campbell, of Mt. Pleasant, Texas, was dead.

"He was a beautiful kid," Kehoe said. "And I send out my prayers to his family. To see someone like that get his life snuffed out. . . . You realize how precious life is and how lucky we are to have each other."







***********************************************************************************************



Safety Al Blades died in March of 2003, also in a car accident following a birthday celebration -- his 26th. His death was especially shocking. I got the call at home and was sick about it. This is the start of the story I wrote about Al, a really funny, kind of wild guy whose older brothers starred at UM (including 1987 Jim Thorpe Award winner Bennie, now in the College Football Hall of Fame):



"Former University of Miami football player Al Blades - the gregarious, well-loved free safety whose fiery play and funny personality inspired his coaches and teammates - died early Thursday after the car in which he was a passenger struck a bridge abutment and plunged into a canal.

Blades, father of a 3-year-old son, Al Jr., celebrated his 26th birthday Wednesday.



"The driver of the car, which witnesses told police was racing with another car on Northwest 22nd Avenue in Miami-Dade, was Fort Lauderdale resident Martel Johnson, 26, a nephew of Blades' brother-in-law.

Blades was transported by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to Parkway Regional Medical Center in North Miami Beach, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 2:37 a.m.

"He was a drowning victim," Parkway spokesman Drew Landmeier said. "There was nothing we could do."

Blades' father, Frederick Blades, 66, was admitted to Parkway when his blood pressure skyrocketed upon arriving with his wife, Rosa, to identify their son. He was in stable condition Thursday night and expected to be released today.

"I want everybody to know," said Blades' brother, Bennie, "that there were two things Al loved in this whole world while he was here - his family and the University of Miami. I don't care where he went, he'd talk about those two."

Said Rosa Blades, 64, who has six other children: "Just ask everyone to pray for us."



****************************************************************************************



Everytime I wind around that hospital, which is now called Jackson North Medical Center, to get onto I-95, I think of Al. EVERYtime.



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And on Nov. 7, 2006, the lead to my Bryan Pata story: "A University of Miami season of tumult turned horrific Tuesday night when Hurricanes defensive lineman Bryan Pata was shot and killed at his apartment complex in Kendall.

"He was shot in the head," Miami Central coach Anthony Saunders said Tuesday night. "He is dead."



I remember writing the story and driving with our photographer out to his apartment complex, and all the stories in the aftermath. The case, ruled a homicide, is still unsolved.



****************************************************************************************



Sean Taylor in 2007 came next.



It was heart-wrenching from beginning to end. This is the beginning of our story from his funeral...



MOVING TRIBUTE: UM FAMILY MOURNS ONE OF ITS 'BROTHERS'



BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN sdegnan@MiamiHerald.com



They walked one by one, side by side, into Florida International University's Pharmed Arena -- well scrubbed, well dressed and pensive.



Jonathan Vilma. Reggie Wayne. Edgerrin James. Phillip Buchanon. Antrel Rolle.



Jon Beason. Frank Gore. Andre Johnson. Roscoe Parrish. Devin Hester.



Greg Olsen. Jeremy Shockey. Bubba Franks. Chris Myers. Buck Ortega.



Javon Nanton. Ethenic Sands. Santana Moss. Vernon Carey. Clinton Portis.



And so on, and so on.



Dozens of former University of Miami football players and coaches converged in Miami on Monday to remember Sean Taylor, their fallen teammate and UM brother who died last Tuesday from a gunshot wound.



"Bryan Pata, Kevin Everett, Sean . . . We've had it rough recently," said Buffalo Bills wide receiver Parrish, who came to UM with Taylor in 2001. "It's a tough experience for all of us when things like this happen. We're a unit. We're the U. We're family. If something happens to anybody, they've got all our support."



Parrish, accompanied by Chicago Bears sensation Hester, couldn't get over the way Taylor died: in his home, his girlfriend and 18-month-old daughter hiding under the covers in the same room.



"For something like this to happen, and the way it happened -- he was at his house in his bed with his family. It's crazy. It makes you be like, 'Wow.' You have to be careful out there and watch your surroundings. It wasn't like he was at a club or anything. He was at his home. That's the most scary part about it."



**************************************************************************************



And now, JoJo.



I copied this quote just now from an interview with JoJo in September of 2011, about a month after his baby, Joseph Jr., died.



Q: "Obviously you’ve had a tough time emotionally. How are you doing. It seems like you’ve been strong."



JoJo: "Yeah, I’m handling it very well. Of course I miss my son dearly. Each day I just dedicate coming out here to him. Being around this team, guys, with the support from the coaches and the team, that’s how I’ve been strong. Being here for them and wanting to play for them just helps me to keep going and knowing my son is always with me in spirit, I play for him everyday. I feel like I would never be able to quit knowing he’s with me."



Concluded JoJo: "It's going to be with me every day because it's my creation, so me and his mother, we think about it, talk about it every day. We still have his leftover blankets and everything like that. I carry his blanket with me to every game. I always feel like a piece of him is with me. He was born at a pound, four ounces.''



Poor JoJo went much too soon. I hope he's with LJ again

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umia...his-also-departed-namesake.html#storylink=cpy




I'm crying right now.

That's hardcore.

Prayers for Jojo's soul, for his family, for his teammates and coaches and for the rest of the Canes family.
 
Manny
The death of a young person is always difficult to swallow.

And yet, when it comes to the University of Miami football team, it feels like these tough to swallow moments hit home far too often.

Former UM defensive back JoJo Nicolas passed away Wednesday evening, a day after being involved in a horrific car accident. Nicolas slammed his car into the rear of a refrigerated 18-wheeler heading west on the MacArthur Causeway at about 5 a.m. Tuesday morning.

It happened hours after he posted pictures and comments on Instagram saying he was out having fun in anticipation of his 25th birthday. Detectives are still trying to determine whether speed, alcohol, texting or any other factors played a role.

Be it a car accident, violence or even a plane crash, the list of tragic deaths involving Hurricanes goes on and on and on.

The first one that comes to mind for most UM fans: Jerome Brown back in 1992. He and a 12-year-old nephew were killed when the Corvette he was speeding in skidded off a slippery road and onto a utility pole in his hometown of Brooksville, Fla. Brown was 27 and in the prime of his NFL career.

In 1992, Shane Curry, a former Canes defensive lineman with the Colts, was shot in the head and killed during an argument in a Cincinnati lounge parking lot.

In 1996, linebacker Marlin Barnes was bludgeoned to death in his campus apartment. He was 22.

A month after Barnes' death, former Canes offensive lineman Robert Woodus was among the 110 who died in the ValuJet crash in the Everglades.

Linebacker Chris Campbell, a senior starter on the 2001 national championship team, died when he lost control of his car and ran into a tree at 4 a.m. in Coral Gables. It happened a month after Miami celebrated its fifth national title in the Rose Bowl. Campbell was 21.

A year later, it was Al Blades. The former standout safety and younger brother of Bennie and Brian Blades was killed in a car crash following the celebration of his 26th birthday. His friend was at the wheel, racing someone else when he lost control of the car before it slammed into a bridge and plunged into a canal in Opa Locka.

Three years later it was Bryan Pata. The former defensive lineman was shot and killed in his apartment complex shortly after leaving a UM practice. He was 22.

A year later, Sean Taylor was shot and killed by robbers inside his home. He was 24 and in the prime of his NFL career.

Not long after Taylor's death in 2007, Time magazine writer wondered if the Hurricanes were cursed because the program "seemed a magnet for guns and trouble."

Former Hurricane safety Earl Little, who was Barnes' best friend and found him dead in his apartment, said he doesn't believe in any curse.

"It's the world we live in," Little, 40, said by phone late Wednesday night. "I had a lot of friends who I grew up with that aren't here anymore. They didn't all play football for the Hurricanes. I think it's just a situation where a lot of young cats just leave us too soon."

Little, who has coached high school football locally and was recently hired to be the head coach at Miami Jackson, said he spent the night Wednesday on the phone talking to former Canes teammate Chad Wilson. When tragedy hits the program, Little said, that's what Hurricanes current and former do. They grieve together and remember all the UM brothers they've lost.

"Not a day goes by I don't think about Marlin. That's the honest truth," Little said. "With the deaths of Sean Taylor and Bryan Pata and now JoJo all of them took me back to Marlin, to April 12, 1996. Immediately. It's something that hits home for all of us when one of our Hurricane brothers dies. Time heals. But what JoJo's family is going through is going to be tough. It will heal. But it still hurts."

Little met Nicolas once -- at a football camp he coached at UM. But Little said he admired Nicolas' attitude and the way he played safety and cornerback for the Hurricanes from 2007 to 2011.

Nicolas, a Homestead High graduate, was a relatively quiet player for most of his career when I covered him at UM and in high school.

But in his final season with the Canes -- shortly after the death of his prematurely born son -- Nicolas became a vocal leader for Al Golden's first team at UM. He was pulling the team together after losses and delivering pep-talks.

"He used to have the mute button on, never really talked that much," defensive end Olivier Vernon told me at the time. "Not anymore."

In a 24-7 win over Georgia Tech, Nicolas had an interception that led to a touchdown and recovered a muffed punt in the end zone for another score.

"I'm happy for him, happy to see him doing well," Sean Spence said of Nicolas after that victory. "Back in the past, JoJo said a couple things here and there, but he was always a guy who led by example. Now, he's leading by example, speaking up, making sure we're doing the right things. It's helped us out a lot."

The Hurricanes finished 6-6 that season. Nicolas didn't get to play in a bowl game as the Hurricanes decided to sit one out because of the Nevin Shapiro scandal. Nicolas didn't get drafted. He spent a preseason with the Giants in 2012 as an undrafted rookie free agent.

Now, he's gone at the age of 24. It's another sad, tragic loss for the Hurricanes family to swallow

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umia...-young-canes-gone-too-soon.html#storylink=cpy
 
Unreal at the tragedies that his plagued this program.

I hope we dedicate this season to not only JoJo, but all the other players we have lost. From Jerome to Sean...everyone.
 
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Unreal at the tragedies that his plagued this program.

I hope we dedicate this season to not only JoJo, but all the other players we have lost. From Jerome to Sean...everyone.

I like it. We all become better when we remember those we lost, and learn and grow from that.

Lots of heavy memories in this thread. Time to reflect. Perspective to be gained.
 
last night when i saw the news i got a little choked up. when you care so deeply about this program for so long you develop a personal connection to each and every one of these guys even if you have never met them.. very sad.
 
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I'm not religious but would be happy to offer a donation if there is a fund setup to help with funeral expenses and such. Is there any info on that?
 
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Extremely sad. I don't understand why that type of accident has become more common recently. I've seen three examples within the past few months. Mangled cars beneath trucks. Invariably it's a black sports car. There are occasional survivors but caliber of life is severely impacted. The son of a senior tour golfer had a very similar accident a few years ago, late at night. Devon Quigley had been featured on a few shows on Golf Channel, an aspiring tour pro himself. He survived but it's sad to see the pictures, confined to a wheel chair. Legends like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer have helped with fund raisers to pay the medical expenses.

RIP

Unfortunately, I think it's the driving and texting.

I drove by a similar looking accident heading north on a Turnpike about a year ago. Crumpled up car slammed into the back of a parked tractor trailer. No way anybody in the entire car survived that.
 
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Forego the banner fund this year and set up donations for something towards the family?
 
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