The 2015 football season was one of great success and tremendous memories for Iowa, but one of the most emotional memories of the season came early on, when Iowa defeated Iowa State, 31-17, just days after the death of former Iowa standout Tyler Sash. Sash's passing was a terrible tragedy for the entire Iowa community, but most especially for his friends and family. ESPN's excellent Outside the Lines program has talked to them for a story set to air on Sunday (8 AM CT on ESPN, 9 AM CT on ESPN2) examining Sash's tragic death.
Here's the ESPN release on the story:
ESPN's Outside the Lines Examines Tragic Tyler Sash Story
The Sunday, May 15, edition of ESPN's investigative sports news program Outside the Lines will examine the tragic story of former pro and college football player Tyler Sash. The program airs at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN.
Sash was standout on special teams for the New York Giants and won a Super Bowl in his rookie season of 2011. Three years later, he was dead at age 27.
As ESPN's Steve Delsohn reports, Sash's story includes multiple concussions and an accidental overdose of painkillers that eventually took his life.
Sash was a native of Oskaloosa, Iowa, and played college football at the University of Iowa as a defensive back.
Among those interviewed in the report: Sash's mother, Barney Sash, and brother, Josh; Tyler Sash's girlfriend, Heather Dickinson; and Spencer Paysinger, a former teammate with the Giants who now plays for the Miami Dolphins.
Bob Ley hosts the program.
ESPN reporter Steve Delsohn also provided a few additional details about the story to The Des Moines Register:
[Sash's] mother, Barney, told ESPN reporter Steve Delsohn that she wonders how things might have been different had her son decided to pursue basketball as a passion.
"One of the things she says in the piece is, had he played basketball instead of football, he'd be alive today," Delsohn told The Des Moines Register.
"They have mixed feelings. They're not like ‘I hate football,' but they've been devastated by CTE and the pain killers (Sash was taking). So they're kind of reconsidering their feelings about the sport."
Delsohn visited Oskaloosa and talked with Sash's girlfriend, Heather Dickinson, his brother, Josh, and also interviewed Spencer Paysinger, a former teammate with the New York Giants, now with the Miami Dolphins.
The Outside the Lines episode featuring the Tyler Sash story is scheduled to air at 8 AM CT on ESPN and 9 AM CT on ESPN2.