Shane Dronett found dead in Atlanta-area home

[red98]

Former Bridge City football star Shane Dronett found dead in Atlanta-area home
By RYAN S. CLARK
January, 21, 2009

Shane Dronett, a Bridge City native who played with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, was found dead in his Atlanta-area home Wednesday, according to media reports and friends.

A cause of death has not yet been determined by the Gwinnett County Forensics Department as an autopsy has been scheduled.

Dronett, who recently turned 38, played at Bridge City High School and later went to the University of Texas where he became an All-American on defense. In 1992, he was a second round draft pick of the Denver Broncos and finished his career with the Falcons.

Dronett was a member of the Falcons' National Football Conference Championship team in 1998 that lost to the Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII.

Vidor football coach/athletic director and Bridge City High alumni Jeff Mathews said this afternoon he learned from a friend about Dronett's death.

Mathews said Dronett was a family friend going back to when his brother, Jason, played high school football with Dronett at Bridge City.

"I was just shocked," Mathews said. "You know he was something special. He was just so gifted in everything he did."

Mathews said that Dronett was survived by his wife and their two children







http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/former_bridge_city_football_star_shane_dronett_fou nd_dead_in_atlanta-area_home_01-21-2009.html

[broncofaninfla]

That sucks. He had a family too. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

[turftoad]

That's to bad. I remember the day we drafted him and always liked him, even as a Falcon. RIP

[keithbishop]

That's awful. I always thought highly of him. R.I.P.

[Medford Bronco]

May he RIP that is too bad. :(

[Shazam!]

They say it may have been a suicude at RMN.

Wishes and regret to his family.

I remember one play especially, he was penalized for jumping on a lineman's back trying to block a FG, 93 or 94 I think.

[TXBRONC]

I feel bad for his family. :sad:

[OB]

when i met the broncos team in their hotel in san fran he came up to me and thought i was his cousin - i stupidly said i wasnt but he talked to me for quite awhile

im extremely sad :sad:

[Northman]

Damn, that sucks. RIP

[red98]

when i met the broncos team in their hotel in san fran he came up to me and thought i was his cousin - i stupidly said i wasnt but he talked to me for quite awhile

im extremely sad :sad:


Sounds like he was a cool guy.

I'll say a prayer for him and those he left behind.

Only 38? very sad.

Anyone else have Shane stories?

[OB]

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2009/01/21/falcons_dronett.html

Gwinnett police said they responded to a 911 suicide call at Dronett’s Sugarloaf address at 7:30 a.m. The medical examiner’s office is investigating the case and a report could be available Thursday.

Dronett had a brain tumor that required surgery in the past year, according to former teammates and coaches from the University of Texas, where he was an All-American.

“He’d had brain surgery. When he told us that, we didn’t even know,” said Lance Gunn, his teammate at Texas. “He seemed fine. You never know what’s in someone’s mind.”

:sad: :sad: :sad:

[pnbronco]

Talked to him up at Training Camp in Greeley a couple of times. Just a nice kid, this makes me really sad. My prayers goes out to his family and friends.

[Bozo Jr.]

Sorry to hear this bad news, R.I.P.

[BroncoNut]

pretty sad.

[NightTrainLayne]

Brain tumors and brain surgery can alter someone's brain chemistry and activity to such a degree that it could cause this to happen.

Very sad.

[BroncoNut]

Brain tumors and brain surgery can alter someone's brain chemistry and activity to such a degree that it could cause this to happen.

Very sad.

was it ruled a suicide?

[NightTrainLayne]

was it ruled a suicide?

Probably not yet. I was just basing that off the statement that there was a response to a 911 call about a suicide, and put that together with the brain tumor/brain surgery.

It's sad no matter how it happened.

[broncofaninfla]

Former Falcon teammates struggle to deal with Dronett’s death

By Jeff Schultz (http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/schultz/entries/2009/01/22/former_falcon_teammates_strugg.html#postcomment) | Thursday, January 22, 2009, 08:04 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ten years later, some of the names come to mind easily. Chris Chandler and Jamal Anderson, Chuck Smith and Travis Hall, Jessie Tuggle and Ray Buchanan.
We remember Morten Andersen’s kick. We remember Terence Mathis’ resolve. We remember Dan Reeves overcoming heart bypass surgery to coach an NFL punchline to a 14-2 record and a Super Bowl berth.
How long would it take before we remember Shane Dronett?
“He was the foundation of our line,” Smith said. “Falcons fans will never know how important he was. People should understand the significance of Shane Dronett.”
Today, he is a topic, but for all the wrong reasons. Shane Dronett’s life ended Wednesday morning, suddenly and tragically.
Two months after reuniting with former teammates on the 10th anniversary of the Falcons’ Super Bowl team, Dronett was found dead at his home in Duluth. Gwinnett County police responded to a 911 call, during which a female caller said she believed her husband had committed suicide. That was confirmed Thursday, but all other details have been withheld out of consideration for the family.
Shane Dronett is dead at 38. He recently had surgery for a brain tumor. We may never know all that followed that.
Death can be a difficult thing to make sense of. Endings like this make it worse. Former teammates are still struggling to get their arms and minds around this.
Tuggle knew about the brain tumor. But he saw Dronett in November at the reunion and, “He was in a great mood. He acted normal. I had no earthly idea anything was wrong. But sometimes people are hurting on the inside and you never know.”
Smith said he is “sad and shocked. Tears came to my eyes when I heard.”
Lester Archambeau said, “I couldn’t make it to the reunion. But I saw him a few months ago at the gym. He was upbeat.”
Travis Hall might have been the closest to Dronett of his former teammates. He returned a phone call Thursday out of courtesy but cut it short.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s really kind of hard to talk about this right now.”
Football is not for soft men. Dronett defined toughness. He grew up in small-town Texas: born in Orange and raised in Bridge City (population 8,600), just off the northern coast of the state. He played football and grew into an All-American at Texas. He boxed and grew into a Golden Gloves champ.
“A Texas backyard brawler,” Smith said. “Shane was a great dude. But he was not a guy to be messed with.”
As Alex Bernstein discovered. A free agent offensive lineman, Bernstein got into a scuffle with Dronett during a training camp drill in 2000.
“Wasn’t much of a fight,” Reeves said. “It was one of those one-punch deals.”
Bernstein left the field with a dented jaw and a chipped tooth. Dronett went on to the next play.
The 1998 season was a special one for the Falcons. The defensive line was a big reason why. While the team went 14-2, the defense ranked fourth in points allowed, eighth in total yardage and second against the run.
The front four — Dronett, Smith, Hall and Archambeau — shared in 30 of the team’s 38 sacks and forced 12 fumbles (four by Dronett). They formed a nickname: “The Bomb Squad.”
“The other guys were kind of conservative,” Smith said. “But when we came up with the ‘Bomb Squad,’ Shane said, ‘I’m Nitro!’ “
It didn’t necessarily fit his personality (training camp, notwithstanding). Smith remembers Dronett always giving hugs. Archambeau remembers him as a prankster who would crank call teammates in hotels.
“He was the perfect teammate, not just as a player but as a person,” Archambeau said. “You don’t get to pick the guys you play with. But he was a flat-out keeper.”
Reeves drafted Dronett with Denver. He later signed him in Atlanta. A year later, they went to the Super Bowl. Despite the loss to the Broncos, 1998 remains the high-water mark for the franchise. It started up front.
“The defensive line were real leaders for us that year,” Reeves said. “We had a bunch of veterans who had been around a while and suffered and came together. It was a close group.”
A special team in a special season. But today we remember only Dronett.

[pnbronco]

Thanks for posting this BF. What a tough time for his family, with first his tumor and now this. It's just so sad, I'm sure it's hard for his Denver team mates too, he was just a really nice person, my prayers are with all of them.

[scott.475]

I'm sorry, but this actually makes me a little mad, and I do have some standing here, as we just lost my father to brain/lung cancer 6 months ago. We are a very tight family, and still suffering from the loss, and while Dad did not want to extend his suffering to the point he became bedridden, etc (which is why he decided against additional cancer treatments), he never would have committed suicide to be found by my mom and/or adult children, much less a younger wife and younger children. I totally understand the depression, fear, and sense of impending loss, I suffered through it personally, and suffered watching my parents and siblings go through it. I can tell you that the suffering is bad enough as is, but to also be racked with a sense of guilt over your husband's/father's suicide (and they will have guilt, justified or not) does not do the family you have left behind any good.

I feel terrible for his wife and kids.

[Dean]

They say that the Lord does not give anyone more than they can bear. However, after watching my brother die of cancer, I am not so sure.

When I saw him in pain all day and every day, it doesn't much resemble living. The doctors prescribed medication. It didn't seem to help.

There is no doubt but what suicide is tough on the living. However, living I would think must have been very difficult for a terminally ill person to commit sucide. I am not sure I could condone it but I can begin to understand.

[Superchop 7]

I remember Reeves drafting him.

He asked Texas who was the best player on their team.

They said Dronett.

Watching him play.

No way you run on the guy.

I am so sorry for the family.

I think he just wanted life on his own terms.

Some guys live by a code, remember Pat Tillman?

You tip your cap.

I tip my cap.