Denver Broncos RB Damien Nash collapses and dies!
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Denver Broncos reserve tailback Damien Nash collapsed and died Saturday evening after an appearance in a charity basketball game in St. Louis.
Nash, a two-year NFL veteran, was 24.
Agent David Canter confirmed his client's death, as did Denver team officials.
Canter, who is attending the annual NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, was first contacted by ESPN.com earlier in the evening, after ESPN.com received reports of Nash's death from people close to other players who had participated in the basketball game. While he was on the phone with ESPN.com, Canter, who was unaware of the incident, received a call from Denver officials confirming Nash's death.
"It's true," said an obviously distraught Canter. "It's true. I don't know what more to say right now, OK?"
Details of the incident were not yet available, and an official with the St. Louis police said an investigation was in its "very earliest" stages.
The proceeds of the event were to benefit the Darris Nash Find A Heart Foundation, which raises money for heart transplant research. The foundation was created last month after Darris Nash, 25, the older brother of Damien Nash, received a heart transplant.
A former University of Missouri standout, Nash entered the NFL as a fifth-round choice of the Tennessee Titans in 2005. He played three games with the Titans as a rookie, and then signed with Denver as a free agent last August. In his one season in Denver, he appeared in three games, rushing 18 times for 66 yards.
Nash is the second Broncos' player to die since the end of the 2006 season. Two-year veteran cornerback Darrent Williams was shot to death in a limousine after leaving a Denver-area nightclub on Jan. 1.