Minnesota Vikings cancel Friday’s practice to attend Tony Sparano memorial
By Chris Schad
The Minnesota Vikings will delay the official start of training camp so they can attend the memorial of their offensive line coach.
The Minnesota Vikings are continuing their process of grieving as they try to recover from the surprising death of their offensive line coach Tony Sparano, who passed away at the age of 56 on the morning on Monday, July, 23rd.
Every death takes time to process and the Vikings are no different. To allow the players, coaches, and those associated with the franchise to attend Sparano’s memorial, the team has announced they are canceling Friday’s training camp practice.
The announcement came down Vikings team reporter Eric Smith on Twitter, who stated practices will resume on Saturday when the team attends their first full-team session at the newly built Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center.
The Vikings have canceled Friday's training camp practice so the team can attend Tony Sparano's memorial service.
— Eric Smith (@Eric_L_Smith) July 24, 2018
Practice resumes Saturday with the first full-team session in Eagan. https://t.co/0zY2VtrTJY pic.twitter.com/rAJRYn2NiG
Sparano’s death was sudden, but the warning signs may have begun a week ago according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen via Adam Schefter. The 56-year old Sparano went to the hospital last week with chest pains before his wife, Jeannette found him unresponsive in their home last Sunday morning.
1/2 More details on tragic passing of Vikings’ OL coach Tony Sparano, via @mortreport. Sparano complained about chest pains this weekend and went to hospital Thursday. Doctors did tests, but released him Friday.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 22, 2018
2/2 Tony Sparano and his wife, Jeannette, were about to leave for church this morning when she found him unconscious in their kitchen. She tried CPR, but he could not be revived. He was 56.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 22, 2018
The Hennepin County Medical examiner’s office released a report on Monday saying that Sparano died of natural causes from arteriosclerotic heart disease at 8:54 a.m. central time on Sunday morning. Sparano was set to begin his third season as the Vikings’ offensive line coach.
Next: Who will be the Vikings new OL coach?
With the cancellation of Thursday’s practice, the Vikings will begin training camp on Saturday with their first full-squad workout scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. and practice at 2:45 p.m.