The father of Zach Hoffpauir, the former Stanford football player and Northern Colorado football coach who died last week at the age of 26, said the family has donated Hoffpauir's brain to . The night before his death, his mother said he went to bed after taking Percocet, an oxycodone-acetaminophen pain killer that Hoffpaiur acquired from a friend, just to get his first full night of sleep in weeks. Manoj, who has worked as a freelance videographer for Riccio Productions, ZAP Entertainment and Harvard University, is working in the Phoenix Sports Bureau. My AP WBB ballot: Stanford-UCLA starts Cardinals huge week Of course, he didnt have everything together. No mortal can make the statement that CTE is the primary issue if youre just dealing with emotional problems, because those are so common in society, Cantu said. He was just a light, said Tyler Thorne, Zachs Stanford baseball teammate, at his memorial service. He had a gregarious personality and we all loved him. Sormani, who has a self-titled YouTube channel, is working in the Phoenix News Bureau. Just imagine what Zachs parents are going through, said Dr. Ann McKee, Director of the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, in a 2021 documentary from Sports360AZ about Zachs life. He also contracted Valley Fever and meningitis. Rare two-sport star Zach Hoffpauir dies at 26, By Tom Scanlon, Glendale Star Managing Editor. 31, now painted in the team's red and white above the 31-yard line, that will forever represent everything they believed their son, Zach, valued. 17 UCLA, My AP WBB ballot: Stanford-UCLA starts Cardinals huge week. Grabill has interned as a photographer with McGaw YMCA Camp Echo and Phoenix Magazine. The mini explosions were always followed by apologies. Copyright the Concussion Legacy Foundation. So much so, that he decided to pack up his bags and head back to Stanford to complete his senior year and have one more run with Stanford. The father of Zach Hoffpauir, the former Stanford football player who died last week at the age of 26, said the family has donated Hoffpauir's brain to concussion research. More Videos On Untold, Zach shared how deep his emotional pain went. Local Sports Things To Do Business eNewspaper Politics USA TODAY Obituaries . They passed by the No. Add a Memory. Yep, thats 99 cents for 90 days, with the option to cancel anytime. At that time, we didnt bring freshman up (to varsity), but he probably couldve played on the varsity team as a freshman. Zach Hoffpauir died on Thursday, May 14, 2020, at the age of 26. Clear to partly cloudy. Zach Hoffpauir, a former football and baseball player at Stanford, died in May of an accidental drug overdose, according to a report citing county medical examiner records in his native Arizona . And that would have been really hard for Zachary to endure, and to watch himself deteriorate.. "It was riddled with CTE lesions.". We remember things through stories, and we forget things when we take down the things that mean so much to us, we cant tell those stories anymore. He was born to Shannon Hoffpauir, Doug Hoffpauir, According to AZCentral, Hoffpauir was staying with his dad in Arizona during the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis. This narrowed his choice to two colleges: Arizona State and Stanford. College and professional athletes, particularly football players, often get unfairly stereotyped. Zach Hoffpauir could catch a ball at 9 months old and could dribble a basketball at 2. (Courtesy of the Hoffpauir family), Zach Hoffpauir signs his autograph on the Stanford Cardinals team poster. (Courtesy of the Hoffpauir family), Zach Hoffpauir, center, shows off his well-known dance moves with his Stanford teammates before a bowl game in 2016. But he never did it from a place of superiority. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.comor 602-316-8827. Talented young athletes often dominate several sports in elementary school and even high school. "He loved his head coach, Ed McCaffrey. He also starred as an outfielder on Stanfords baseball team and was drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2015. He is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado with a BA in elementary education and minors in teaching English as a second language and sociology. College Sports | I was totally at peace with it, Doug Hoffpauir said Monday. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! McCaffrey shared similar sentiments, noting Zachs unique passion for leading the players and honesty about his own experiences. You are just minutes from Greenwood & Myers Mortuary is the first choice for many families when they are seeking funeral services in Boulder. Athletically, Zachs freshman year in Palo Alto was not as prolific as his freshman year at Centennial. People always tell me I was his biggest cheerleader, but he was really mine, Hillary Hoffpauir said. He had depression, anxiety and insomnia. 1 team. He was our he was kinda like our heartbeat honestly, he was the personality of the team.. Hoffpauir's father, though, stressed to Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News that his son did not commit suicide. His father remembers him first catching a ball when he was nine months old, dribbling a basketball by two, and catching his first fish on a fly rod when he was four. Hoffpauir was a standout safety who made All-Pac-12 honorable mention in 2014. He had a shorter fuse and he snapped at friends and family more quickly. "I am devastated by the loss," Ed began his social media post. he calls my dad and says Im going to fly him out here, hes going to see Dr. Prusmack whos the chief neurosurgeon for the Denver Broncos. I sit down with him for 15 minutes and he tells me I have Lyme Disease. Although we cannot yet accurately diagnose CTE in living people, a specialist can help treat the symptoms presenting the most challenges. A mass of Christi Doug Hoffpauir said in the days after his sons death that he was certain Zach did not die by suicide. Hoffpauir left Stanford in 2015 after being taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 22nd round of the MLB draft and played a minor league season that summer. . It has been 296 days since the Stanford football team opened fall camp to begin . But I never knew how much I needed every word. (Courtesy of the Hoffpauir family), Zach Hoffpauir wears sunglasses and a lei at his graduation from Stanford. I could only speculate that started four or five years earlier.. He will be remembered for his love of God, family, and friends. Now all of a sudden, sports became a business, Doug said in the Sports360AZ documentary. Itll be hard, but his life on Earth wasnt easy, either, and he did more good for others than many ever will. Hoffpauir was with his father in . He was a young, intelligent coach with limitless potential, wrote Ed McCaffery in a Facebook post after Zachs death. Id never seen him happier than in the last couple months.. But on May 15, 2020, Hoffpauir died of an accidental overdose at age 26. To the general public, Zach Hoffpauir is just an athlete and coach who died too soon. "To a point it was exhausting talking to him. While his mental state never got down to where it was before, it was enough to keep him up night after night. He certainly isnt mad at Stanford quite the opposite, in fact. Sharon "Teda" Hoffpauir A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, June 25, 2022, 11 a.m., at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church for Sharon "Teda" Hoffpauir, 66, who died Thursday, June 23, 2022 in Crowley, La, surrounded by her loving family. The pressure was. Sometimes he had so much love for other people, said Christian McCaffery, Zachs Stanford football teammate at the celebration of life. A post shared by Zach Hoffpauir (@zachhoff10). Hoffpauir, who was from Glendale, Arizona, was close friends with McCaffreys son, Christian, whos now an All-Pro running back for the Carolina Panthers, when they both attended Stanford. He broke the mold and spent his life helping others do the same no matter what kind of mold they were supposed to fit into. Hoffpauir was known as a hard hitter and suffered at least five documented concussions before medically retiring from football in 2016. Doug Hoffpauir wants the world to know that even now, 15 months later, with the CTE diagnosis confirmed, he isnt mad. This beautiful, talented, incredibly intelligent young man dying at 26 with the ravages of this disease in his brain.. No cause of death for the former Stanford football and baseball player has been released. They passed by the No. On the field, Zach excelled in baseball and football, and earned All-American honors for both. Zach Hoffpauir was 26 years old. He was a cowboy and a coach, a fisherman and a dancer. Former Arizona State football coach Todd Graham, who was heartbroken on 2011 National Signing Daywhen Zach announced he'd be going to Stanford and not ASU, also is in the documentary, along with Stanford football coach David Shaw and Hoffpauir's best friend from Stanford, Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey. He made his return to baseball in 2018, once more splitting time between Montana and Oregon. At Centennial, Zach was a multi-sport athlete. Zach didnt shy away from showing his imperfections and struggles. Yet through the darkest points in his life, he still prioritized others. He had 11 rushing touchdowns and 59 tackles, eight for losses, and six interceptions, making The Arizona Republic's All-Arizona team. I just want to feel normal., I walked through his darkest days right by his side, said Doug. Praying for the Hoffpauir family during this time.. Stanford women: Brink, Jones power No. Hoffpauir's parents, Doug and Shannon, were recognized /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. It was a tragedy, and a shock to everybody involved. Family. He commented at the time on Hoffpauir's character and how he felt he would some day become a great coach. A recently-hired University of Northern Colorado assistant football coach died Thursday. Zach Hoffpauir, one of the greatest athletes in Arizona high school history, died Thursday morning. Mostly he loved sharing his life and experiences with our players, who he was born to mentor. Zach Hoffpauir, a two-sport standout at Stanford who earned All-Pac 12 honours as a safety in football and played two seasons in the Arizona Diamondbacks minor league system, has died at age 26. Stanford was excellent to Zach, he said. Several themes emerged from their tearful tributes. Hoffpauir had stage II the same level found in the brain of Junior Seau after the NFL Hall of Famer took his own life, at the age of 43, with a gunshot to the chest. After Stanford and the finality of not being able to play beyond college, he struggled with what to do in life, said Doug Hoffpauir. All the concussions he got from playing shortened his career. The son of Doug and Shannon Hoffpauir and older brother of Hillary Hoffpauir, Zachary Hoffpauir graduated from Centennial in 2012. He made a difference in the life of every person he met.. 31 painted near the 31-year-line. While Zachs official cause of death is an accidental overdose, Zachs mother, Shannon, feels that even this label is disingenuous.