07-25-2021, 08:21 PM
Twenty years after death of Vikings tackle Korey Stringer, his legacy lives onThe 27-year-old died from heatstroke complications suffered during a Vikings training camp practice
On a bookshelf at his St. Paul home, former Vikings guard Corbin Lacina keeps a photo of his late teammate Korey Stringer. He sees it nearly every day.
On the inside of a kitchen cabinet at his home in Savage, former Vikings guard David Dixon has a photo of Stringer and a trading card depicting his former roommate. He said he sees it “whenever I’m going to get some spices or something.”
On a wall in his home office in Scottsdale, Ariz., former Vikings punter Mitch Berger has a frame that includes photos of him with Stringer and a poem he wrote to honor his good friend at his memorial service 20 years ago.
On Aug. 1, 2001, Stringer, a 27-year-old offensive tackle, died of heatstroke complications suffered during a Vikings training camp practice the previous day in stifling temperatures in Mankato. His memory has continued to live on.
“He was irreplaceable as a player but also irreplaceable as a person,” Berger said. “He was a leader, a captain and a guy everybody loved. There was a big hole in our hearts for Big K because he meant something to everybody.”
Berger has served on the board of directors for the Korey Stringer Institute, which was started in 2010 on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, Conn. Its formation was announced after a lawsuit, filed in 2003 by Stringer’s widow, Kelci Stringer, against the NFL, was settled in 2009. The only thing made public in the settlement was that an institute, with the NFL as a partner, would be founded to help prevent heat-related illnesses in football and other sports.
After her husband’s death, Kelci Stringer sued the Vikings in January 2002, but that $100 million wrongful-death suit was dismissed in 2003. And she sued helmet maker Riddell in 2003 before a confidential settlement was reached in 2011.
Kelci Stringer, 47, now lives in Charlotte, N.C., where she works as a life coach in the field of psychology. Before that, she practiced in Panama City, Panama, from 2018-20. And prior to that, she lived in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta, where she grew up, and at one point owned a fashionable women’s shoe store.
Korey and Kelci Stringer were married for four years and their son, Kodie, was 3 when his father died. He is now 23 and living in Los Angeles, where he plays the keyboard and piano and produces electronic music on his computer. He played high school football in Atlanta, spending some time at his father’s old position — right tackle — but admits he was “never that interested in sports” and wanted to “do my own thing.” Kodie, who bears a striking resemblance to his father, earned a music degree at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla.
Kelci Stringer, who has not remarried, also has a daughter, True Harrison, 10, whose father is no longer in a relationship with her mother.
Kelci Stringer is active with the Korey Stringer Institute, being listed as a founder and spokesperson. Looking back at her husband’s death, she said the institute is something good that has come out of a tragic situation.
“Twenty years is a long time, but (Stringer’s death) seems like it was just yesterday,” she said. “(The 20th anniversary) will be bittersweet. But 20 years is a nice time to do a new chapter, so that’s what I’m looking forward to is creating more exposure (for the institute). It’s still a process, but the work the institute has done has been phenomenal.”
https://www.twincities.com/2021/07/23/20...-lives-on/
On a bookshelf at his St. Paul home, former Vikings guard Corbin Lacina keeps a photo of his late teammate Korey Stringer. He sees it nearly every day.
On the inside of a kitchen cabinet at his home in Savage, former Vikings guard David Dixon has a photo of Stringer and a trading card depicting his former roommate. He said he sees it “whenever I’m going to get some spices or something.”
On a wall in his home office in Scottsdale, Ariz., former Vikings punter Mitch Berger has a frame that includes photos of him with Stringer and a poem he wrote to honor his good friend at his memorial service 20 years ago.
On Aug. 1, 2001, Stringer, a 27-year-old offensive tackle, died of heatstroke complications suffered during a Vikings training camp practice the previous day in stifling temperatures in Mankato. His memory has continued to live on.
“He was irreplaceable as a player but also irreplaceable as a person,” Berger said. “He was a leader, a captain and a guy everybody loved. There was a big hole in our hearts for Big K because he meant something to everybody.”
Berger has served on the board of directors for the Korey Stringer Institute, which was started in 2010 on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, Conn. Its formation was announced after a lawsuit, filed in 2003 by Stringer’s widow, Kelci Stringer, against the NFL, was settled in 2009. The only thing made public in the settlement was that an institute, with the NFL as a partner, would be founded to help prevent heat-related illnesses in football and other sports.
After her husband’s death, Kelci Stringer sued the Vikings in January 2002, but that $100 million wrongful-death suit was dismissed in 2003. And she sued helmet maker Riddell in 2003 before a confidential settlement was reached in 2011.
Kelci Stringer, 47, now lives in Charlotte, N.C., where she works as a life coach in the field of psychology. Before that, she practiced in Panama City, Panama, from 2018-20. And prior to that, she lived in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta, where she grew up, and at one point owned a fashionable women’s shoe store.
Korey and Kelci Stringer were married for four years and their son, Kodie, was 3 when his father died. He is now 23 and living in Los Angeles, where he plays the keyboard and piano and produces electronic music on his computer. He played high school football in Atlanta, spending some time at his father’s old position — right tackle — but admits he was “never that interested in sports” and wanted to “do my own thing.” Kodie, who bears a striking resemblance to his father, earned a music degree at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla.
Kelci Stringer, who has not remarried, also has a daughter, True Harrison, 10, whose father is no longer in a relationship with her mother.
Kelci Stringer is active with the Korey Stringer Institute, being listed as a founder and spokesperson. Looking back at her husband’s death, she said the institute is something good that has come out of a tragic situation.
“Twenty years is a long time, but (Stringer’s death) seems like it was just yesterday,” she said. “(The 20th anniversary) will be bittersweet. But 20 years is a nice time to do a new chapter, so that’s what I’m looking forward to is creating more exposure (for the institute). It’s still a process, but the work the institute has done has been phenomenal.”
https://www.twincities.com/2021/07/23/20...-lives-on/
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