Marshawn Kneeland died aged 24, just days after scoring his first touchdown in the NFL…
The girlfriend of a major sports star who died last week is pregnant, the coach of the Dallas Cowboys has said, as he vowed that the team will support her and the child. Marshawn Kneeland was found dead aged 24, just days after scoring his first touchdown in the NFL.
He is thought to have refused to pull over during a traffic stop while driving and sent his family a group text saying goodbye, before crashing his car into a truck and fleeing on foot. He was found dead hours later in the early hours of Thursday, November 6 from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer, 52, announced that the club have set up a memorial fund to support his girlfriend, Catalina Mancera, and the baby when he or she is born.
He said: “She’s pregnant and so we want to make sure she is taken care of and the baby is taken care of for the rest of their lives. It’s very important to our guys and to us. The organisation have been amazing, we’ve started the Marshawn Kneeland Memorial Fund where we can all give and support Catalina.”
He also opened his Wednesday press conference with a poignant tribute to the American football star, who played two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys before his death.
He said: “I’d like to take a few moments and offer my condolences to Marshawn’s family, Catalina his girlfriend. We had an opportunity last night to celebrate Marshawn’s life, tell some stories, share, laugh, cry.
“Marshawn loved the words One Love. He talked a lot about love. As we grieve, I had a chance to really share a couple of things I’ll miss the most about Marshawn.
“Those top couple of things was he had the most playful spirit of any young man I’ve been around. His smile could take you to your knees. In terms of him as an athlete, no one had a better motor than him. So my heart is heavy, our team’s heart is heavy, we don’t move on, but we do move forward.”
The Cowboys will wear tributes on their helmets in memory of Kneeland for the rest of the season and will wear T-shirts commemorating him at forthcoming games.