Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511060109
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE AND NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They would have met last night for dinner in a San Diego restaurant, these two close friends.
They would have shared old memories, perhaps ironed out final details of the gym they were preparing to open and operate in North Miami.
No doubt much of their conversation would have concerned Thursday's upset defeat of Florida State by their alma mater, the University of Virginia.
``We probably would have been talking over the phone the entire game, the entire night,'' Kirby said.
And tonight the Dolphins' running back and Chargers linebacker would have likely had a true reunion, the head-on collision kind when two opposites attract.
Only none of it will occur.
On June 19, Griggs lost control of his car on a Florida Turnpike ramp and slammed into a light pole. He died instantly, tests later revealing that his blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit.
His death was mourned not only by the Chargers, with whom he had spent the 1994 season, but also by his friends and former teammates on the Dolphins. He had spent four seasons with the Dolphins, working his way up from the developmental squad to starting linebacker.
But Griggs wasn't the type to chide when the situation allowed, as was the case after San Diego knocked the Dolphins out of last season's playoffs.
``He wasn't that type of person at all,'' said Dolphins linebacker Bryan Cox, who played alongside Griggs with the Dolphins. ``When the Chargers came down here to practice before the Super Bowl, I stopped by camp to visit him a couple of times and he never mentioned that game once.''
Said another Dolphins linebacker, Dwight Hollier: ``They said he was too slow to be a linebacker, but he always beat the odds, no matter what he did.''
Griggs did just that merely by switching teams. After the Dolphins had demoted him to a backup role, he landed in San Diego, became a starter, and finished the season ranked fifth in tackles.
``David was one of those kinds of players who wasn't the most athletic guy,'' Chargers coach Bobby Ross said. ``But he was one of the most productive players on the field.''
Ross was the head coach at the University of Maryland when he first met Griggs, then a high-school standout the Terrapins were trying to sign to a football scholarship.
Griggs chose Virginia instead, but the decision did not leave Ross in a foul mood. He more than gladly took Griggs in after he played out his years in Miami and became a free agent.
When Griggs died this summer, Ross said it hit the team hard.
``A number of our coaches went to his funeral and we had a memorial service before our first game,'' he said. ``When we played in Philadelphia near Griggs' New Jersey hometown, we invited Mrs. Griggs [his wife] to the game, and after the game she came in the locker room and we gave her the game ball.''
The Chargers placed a photograph of Griggs in the team's ``Hall of Fame'' room, and players have worn his No.92 on their helmets this season.
This will be the first meeting of the two teams since Griggs' death, since last season's AFC playoff contest.
Something is missing from the game because of his absence.
Kirby, who was injured and could not play in the Dolphins' season-ending loss to the Chargers, said he and Griggs had been looking forward to the rematch ever since learning of the 1995 schedule.
``I always told him we were going to beat them,'' Kirby said. ``He probably would have come over to my hotel room tonight to pick me up for dinner.''
Keywords:
FOOTBALL FATALITY
by CNB