Colorado Rockies president found dead in Salt Lake City

[Denver Native (Carol)]

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14920811

Colorado Rockies president Keli McGregor was found dead in a hotel room in Salt Lake City at 9 a.m. today, according to Salt Lake City Police.

Salt Lake Det. Rick Wall said police responded to the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City and found McGregor in his room.

"We didn't see anything suspicious," Wall said. "He did pass away of natural causes. The official cause of death will be investigated by the Salt Lake City Medical Examiner's Office."

The Rockies were notified by Salt Lake City Police and issued a statement late this morning.

"Words cannot describe the level of shock and disbelief that we all are feeling this morning at the loss of Keli," team owner Charlie Monfort said. "Our thoughts, our prayers are with (McGregor's wife) Lori and the entire family as we all try to cope and understand how such a tragic loss could occur with such a wonderful man."

Wall said McGregor, 48, was in Salt Lake City on Rockies' business. An associate who traveled to Salt Lake City with him had tried reaching McGregor this morning but was unable to get an answer and asked the hotel to check on him. That's when police were called.

McGregor took incredible care of his body, working out on a daily basis.

As Rockies players learned of the news this morning, they reacted in stunned disbelief. One prominent player kept asking for it to be repeated, unable to wrap his arms around the idea because of McGregor's impeccable fitness level.

One of McGregor's major accomplishments was orchestrating the Rockies' move from their spring training home in Tuscon to a new faciltity near Scottsdale. The Rockies are scheduled to move to their new home next spring.

The complex is set against a picturesque background of five mountain ranges and the Talking Stick Golf Club in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. It features an 11,000-seat ballpark which the Rockies will share with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

McGregor was a two-time All-American tight end at Colorado State. He was drafted by the Broncos in the fourth round (110th overall) of the 1985 NFL draft. He played for the Broncos, Indianapolis and Seattle before retiring.

He was a multisport start at Lakewood High who grew to 6-foot-7, 270 pounds by the time he played for the Broncos.

McGregor ranks third on CSU's single-season reception list (69) and stands fifth on the all-time reception list with 153. He was voted to the school's All-Century Team in 1992 and was inducted into the CSU's Hall of Fame in 1996.

McGregor was named president of the Rockies on Oct. 18, 2001. He was beginning his 17th season with the organization.

McGregorbegan his career with the Rockies in October 1993 as senior director of operations. He was promoted to senior vice president in 1996 and executive vice president in 1998.

McGregor was born in Primgahr, Iowa. McGregor and his wife have four children.

His father, Brian McGregor, was a 30-year football coach at Arvada West High after playing in the Canadian Football League.

During his freshman year at CSU, Keli McGregor met Michael McMorris, son of Jerry, who at the time was an athletic booster who ran a trucking company. When McMorris became the Rockies' president and chief executive officer, he knew who he wanted to help run the franchise someday. McGregor didn't apologize for his close friendship to Mike, who died of cystic fibrosis just before the start of the 1996 season.

At CSU, McGregor earned his degree in microbiology with the intention of becoming a large-animal veterinarian. He later changed fields and got his master's in sports administration at the University of Florida, then hooked on with the University of Arkansas to serve as assistant athletic director to Frank Broyles.

[Broncolingus]

Most folks don't remember he played for the Bronco's...

Sounds like dude took good care of himself...

...sad.

[broncophan]

What a shame........and way too young.....

stories like this should make us appreciate everyday we have.....because you just don't know....

[Denver Native (Carol)]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Former-Rockies-owner-fondly-remembers-Keli-McGregor-042010

WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Colorado Rockies will eventually find a new president. They won’t, however, replace Keli McGregor.

McGregor had an ability to make things better in life.

His fame came in athletics.

The loss will be felt by the lives he has touched, and then some.

He was a two-time as All-American tight end at Colorado State University.
More importantly, as original Rockies managing general partner Jerry McMorris put it, "he was an All-American in life.’’

McMorris’ relationship with McGregor began 30 years ago. McGregor was the athletic specimen, recruited to CSU by Earl Bruce to play football. His roommate was Mike McMorris, a fragile youngster, the victim of cystic fibrosis.

They became as close as brothers. They lived together throughout college.


"Many nights, when Mike had a setback, Keli would be up, taking care of him until we could get there,’’ McMorris remembered.

Mike had a fascination with athletics, even though he couldn’t participate. McGregor found a way for Mike McMorris to be a part of things. He spoke with Coach Bruce about making his friend the team manager. Nobody could have been prouder of that opportunity than Mike McMorris.

At the time, Jerry McMorris owned a trucking company but no involvement in sports. The Colorado Rockies were not even a figment of the imagination. Baseball had not even given a thought to expansion.

"It was just a sign of Keli and his way of caring for people,’’ said McMorris. "He was doing what he could without any concern except helping Mike enjoy his time. As a parent, you never forget those things.’’

Mike died 16 years ago, at the age of 32. His memory, however, has been perpetuated in no small part by McGregor’s eager assistance with Jerry and Mary McMorris in their fund-raising efforts to find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.


"No question about it,’’ said McMorris, "he was a special man.’’

McGregor was Colorado, tried and true. Born in Iowa, he was raised in the Denver area, and then attended Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, where he grew from a 6-foot-1, 180-pound freshman into a 6-foot-7, 270-pound NFL fourth-round draft choice.

His father was the longtime football coach at Arvada West High School, in the Denver suburbs.

McGregor’s athletic career began with the Denver Broncos, then took him to Indianapolis and Seattle, where he played for the Colts and Seahawks.

His professional life took him to Gainesville, where he was on the University of Florida staff for two years while he earned his master’s degree in education with an emphasis on athletic administration.

It deposited him in Arkansas, where he was the assistant athletic director and hand-chosen replacement to Frank Broyles. McGregor was such a part of the scene that when Arkansas won the NCAA basketball championship in 1994, coach Nolan Richardson, in the midst of the locker room celebration, took time to call McGregor, and had each player get on the phone to thank him for what he did to help the program.


Eventually it brought him home, to Colorado, to work for the Rockies, at the request of McMorris, with the idea that McGregor would eventually ascend to run the franchise, which he did.

McGregor was the calming influence in the Rockies organization. He was the stability that allowed the Rockies to undertake their long-term rebuilding plan that has resulted in the franchise using a home-grown nucleus to advance to the postseason twice in the last three years.

His abilities did not go unnoticed. He was a frequent target of other franchise owners, including last summer when Rogers Communications, which owns the Toronto Blue Jays, among other things, offered him a long-term contract to oversee their sports operations. That included not only the Jays and the Rogers Centre, but also efforts to bring the NFL Buffalo Bills to Toronto.

There is every reason to think McGregor would have been the type of candidate to replace Selig if the commissioner does retire, as he has announced, after the 2012 season.

Selig ordered a moment of silence in honor of McGregor at all Major League games played Tuesday night.


"He was a young man who walked into the room with an older group of owners, and commanded respect,’’ Selig said. "He brought a new thought process into the group and did it in a way that it was accepted and welcomed. He was a consensus builder.

"He will be sorely missed.’’

What will the Rockies do next?

Nobody knows. For now, nobody really cares.

There was not a succession plan in place. Nobody expected McGregor to go anywhere.

Not at the age of 48 and not in his physical condition. He ran five miles every day. He worked out regularly. He was careful with his diet.

But on Tuesday morning, after a Monday evening marketing event for the Rockies in Salt Lake City, McGregor was gone.

When he didn’t show up on time in the hotel lobby to go to the airport for a flight back to Denver, McGregor’s chief adjutant, Greg Feasal, executive vice president of business operations, called hotel security. They entered McGregor’s room, and found him laying face down on the floor.

"Stunned,’’ was the reaction of Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, who had grown up in the Rockies organization as a player while McGregor was growing up as a member of the management team.


"You look at him, you talk to him, you never expect something like this, not with him,’’ said Helton. "He was a force in life, not just in athletics.’’