From Deseret News archives:
Craig Garrick: Ex-BYU star free of pain at last
Garrick died Sept. 3 at the age of 41. Officially, he died from complications resulting from abdominal surgery, but really he died from prolonged drug use, specifically narcotics and anabolic steroids.
Or maybe you could say he died from his obsession for football and from a single horrifying play that changed his life forever at the age of 18.
Surely, we all had the same thought: Such a waste . . . what could have been.
Despite his excesses and his failings, Garrick was irresistibly likable, a loving, kind, gentle giant who went out of his way to do things for people. He was the kind of guy who gave his national championship football helmet to a neighbor boy because, as he explained to his wife, "He has nothing."
But his flaws were an addiction to narcotics and a willingness to do anything to play football.
At the funeral Edwards spoke of how he once told Garrick's mother Janet that Craig shouldn't play football because of that bad knee, which was so badly deformed that it bent like a bow six inches to the side with every step.
"That's not an option," she replied. "If he didn't play, he would die."
Recent comments
RIP Daddy
Jerica Bree Garrick | Aug. 14, 2009 at 11:49 a.m.
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