Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210105
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Knight-Ridder/Tribune and Associated Press reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Former Virginia football player David Griggs, a starting linebacker for the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX, died late Monday night when his speeding Lexus slid off an expressway ramp and slammed into a large sign pole near Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Griggs, who also played for the Miami Dolphins, was 28. He apparently lost control of the car on a ramp linking Florida's Turnpike with three roads west of Fort Lauderdale. The car traveled across another ramp and a grassy median before slamming into the pole, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Griggs was taken to Broward General Hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. Griggs was the only person in the car, which was traveling ``substantially faster'' than the 30-mph speed limit, the highway patrol said. There was no evidence of drug or alcohol use, an investigating trooper said.
The last moments of Griggs' life were seen by friends and may have been heard by Dolphins running back Terry Kirby, a former UVa teammate. Gene Herrera, a Broward County Fire Rescue spokesman said he was told a car with some of Griggs' friends and a taxi were behind Griggs at the time. He said the friends and taxi driver witnessed the crash and that Griggs was en route from a comedy club in Miami to Fort Lauderdale.
Two people said Kirby talked to Griggs just before or as the accident occurred. One was former UVa strength coach John Gamble.
Kirby could not be reached at his home and did not respond to beeper messages. He spent much of the day with Griggs' longtime girlfriend, Amy Miller, and 1-year-old daughter, Jasmine. Griggs, Miller, Kirby and Kirby's girlfriend often went out together.
Gamble, the Dolphins' strength and conditioning coach, said Kirby called him at 4 a.m. Tuesday, frantic and unintelligible at first.
``We talked for 45 minutes and it must have been 20 minutes before I really understood who he was talking about,'' said Gamble, who tried the rest of the day to reach Kirby. ``I'm really worried about him. I must have left 20 messages for him just saying, `Terry, just call and let me know you're OK.' I don't know how he's taking this.''
Gamble, who had known Griggs since 1985, was planning to go on a fishing trip with him in July.
Griggs was a starter at Virginia from 1985-1988 and a seventh-round draft choice by the New Orleans Saints in 1989. He was waived by the Saints just before the start of the 1989 season and signed with the Miami Dolphins as a free agent.
After playing for Miami for five seasons, Griggs signed with the Chargers as a free agent in March 1994 and took over as a starting outside linebacker.
by CNB