Junior Seau, who played 20 NFL seasons with the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots has reportedly taken his own life with a self inflicted gunshot wound to his chest.
The shooting occurred sometime before 10 a.m. PT this morning at his Oceanside CA home. The local emergency dispatch center received a 9-1-1 call about 10 a.m. from Seau’s housekeeper reporting the shooting.
Seau, who was one of the greatest linebackers to ever play the game and a surefire Pro Football Hall of Fame member, has battled suicide demons in his past. Once he retired his life seemed to change drastically without football in it, as he appeared several times in tabloid news stories in print and on TV. Nearly two years ago he was accused of assault by Reality TV entertainer Tila Tequila and then he drove his car off of a cliff just hours after being arrested on those charges.
Drafted 5th overall by San Diego in the 1990 NFL Draft out of Southern California, he starred for 13 seasons with the Chargers taking them to a Super Bowl before he was traded to Miami where he played with the Dolphins for three seasons before retiring.
Just four days after retiring as a Charger in August 2006 Seau signed a contract to play for the New England Patriots. He played a full season in 2006 and in 2007 he would be named a team captain and play in his second Super Bowl. In 2008 and 2009 he played partial seasons for New England coming back when Bill Belichick called and asked for his help.
In November of 2011 he was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame during Alumni Day ceremonies in a game against the Denver Broncos.
Seau was heavily involved in community work through his foundation, he also had a clothing line called “Say-Ow” and he owned “Seau’s the Restaurant” in Mission Valley CA.
Married for 13 years before he got divorced in 2002, he leaves three children, a daughter Sydney (19); and sons Jake (17) and Hunter (12).
In his playing career he earned 12 Pro Bowl nominations, 10 All-Pro selections, he was a 2-time AFC Champion, the 1992 UPI Defensive Player of the Year and NEA NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He was also the 1994 AFC Player of the Year, a member of the NFL’s 1990’s All-Decade team, the Chargers Hall of Fame as well as their 50th Anniversary team.
He made 1,849 tackles, had 56.5 sacks, 18 INT’s and 3 forced fumbles in an outstanding career.
Junior Seau died tragically and amazingly is already the 8th member of the 1994 Chargers Super Bowl team to pass away. He was only 43.
Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII
photo credit: Getty Images
