Homeless former UNC football player killed riding : 0xbt

Homeless former UNC football player killed riding

Ryan Hoffman, the former North Carolina offensive lineman whose story of homele sne sgained national media attention earlier this year, was killed Nov. 16while riding a children's bicycle into oncoming traffic on an unlit stretch of aFlorida highway. He was 41.Hoffman started at left tackle for the Tar Heels from1994 Julio Teheran Jersey -97, playing alongside futureNFL players like Jeff Saturday, Dre Bly and Alge Crumpler. But his life took a harrowing turn shortly after his playing career ended and he began living on the streets ofLakeland, Fla., where .MORE: | Hoffmanstruggled with mental illne s whichhe blamed on football andsaid he had sold drugs. He addedhe was addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol.Upon learning of hissituation, UNC arranged for Brian McCann Jersey Hoffman to visit Chapel Hill toundergo evaluation and treatment for his mental health problems.The trip,detailed in various media reports and a published Wednesday, didn't seem to alter Hoffman's course. He underwent further treatment at arehabilitation center inWest Palm Beach, Fla., which was partially paid for byNorth Carolina alumni. He stayedtwo months before being discharged, according to the Times.They turned their backs on me, he told the Times, referring toNorth Carolina officials. I feel like nothing has changed. There is still something wrong with my head.After failing to obtain a government identification card to live in a shelter, he returned to the streets inearly October. He told a Times reporter he was depre Phil Niekro Jersey sed.Hoffman was arrested Oct. 21 after running from police, who suspected hewas stealing a bicycle. His final interaction with a family member came hours before his death via a text conversation withhis mother, saying his belongings had been stolen.lovele s. homele s. no food. no clothes. no anything," he wrote at 3:59 p.m., according to the Times.ENGEL: Hoffman's bikecollided with a vehicle later thatevening on Highway 17-92 nearHaines City, Fla.,a stretch of road with a 50 mph speed limit. He died in an ambulance on the way to thehospital.Investigators said they are awaiting toxicology Hank Aaron Jersey results and a final autopsy before making a determinationbetween suicide andan accident.Hoffman's sister,Kira Soto, told the Times the family will donate Hoffman's brain, which was preserved, to research forchronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the degenerative brain disease commonly a sociated with former football players."(Hoffman) Atlanta Braves Jersey told me to promise that when he died, wed send his brain to be tested for CTE," Hoffman's mother, Irene, told the Times,"and I promised, and his sister promised. We all agreed that we wanted to know what happened to Ryan there at UNC.Its the million-dollar question.