Oregon Safety Todd Doxey Dies

[OregonBuckeye]

Scout.com: Todd Doxey, 1989-2008

The Eugene Register-Guard reported tonight that Oregon safety Todd Doxey died in an Eugene Hospital following a swimming accident this afternoon on the McKenzie River.

[BB73]

RIP, Todd. My thoughts are with his family.

[MD Buckeye]

ESPN - Oregon redshirt freshman drowns after jumping from bridge - College Football

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

Oregon redshirt freshman drowns after jumping from bridge

EUGENE, Ore. -- A redshirt freshman on the University of Oregon football team has died after trying to swim the McKenzie River during an inner-tube trip down the river.

The university said in a statement that 19-year-old Todd Doxey was with several teammates Sunday afternoon in the Cascade Range stream.

It said that most of the party started down the river, but Doxey decided to jump off a bridge.

He swam across the current toward a boat ramp. But, the Lane County sheriff's office says, he tired and couldn't hold his head above water.

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[OregonBuckeye]

Gut-wrenching stuff. RIP, Todd.

Doxey?€™s families struggle to deal with unexpected: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.

He is big and strong, charismatic and confident. But here was Patrick Chung standing in front of a crowd Tuesday evening, struggling to find words, failing to maintain his composure.

He'd been telling how he'd come to mentor a younger teammate, how he called the kid "my son," when a sob rose from somewhere inside.

"It hit me," Chung said. "I won't be able to do that anymore."
And then Chung spent the next few moments embracing a gray-haired lady he had just come to know as Grandma.

The Oregon football family had gathered at the Casanova Center to remember Todd Doxey, the redshirt freshman who drowned Sunday afternoon in the McKenzie River. Teammates and friends found themselves at the podium, wanting to say something but not sure what. For some the words came in a torrent. For others, the tears did.

The overarching question, asked by several, answered by no one, was: Why?

Will Wallace, another close friend and teammate, told of sitting in a dorm room with Doxey "talking about life and how you can't take nothing for granted." Wallace stopped short, and when he started again, his voice quavered: "We can?t take nothing for granted now, because he's gone."

[brodybuck21]

terrible tragedy.

R.I.P. Todd

[OregonBuckeye]

Rivals.com College Football - Oregon works to honor Doxey as season opens

EUGENE, Ore. ? A year ago, after she helped him move into his dorm at Oregon, Todd Doxey took his grandmother, Gladys, to Autzen Stadium and fantasized about his first game as a Duck.

"We stood there on that empty field," Gladys said, "and he pointed at the tunnel. He talked about how exciting it was going to be to storm into that stadium in front of all those fans.

"I told him ? I promised him ? that I would be here to see it." Gladys looked away. Her voice began to tremble.

"Today," she said, "was supposed to be that day."

One year later, true to her word, Gladys made the trip from San Diego to Eugene for last Saturday's season-opener against Washington. But a few hours before kickoff, she and Doxey's closest relatives and friends were nowhere near Autzen Stadium. Instead, 13 miles away, they gathered on a bank of the McKenzie River. Kneeling one by one, they dipped their hands into the cold water and gazed at the bridge 40 feet above.

"We needed to see it for ourselves," said JayDee Luster, Doxey's best friend. "We needed to see where Todd took his final breaths.

"We needed to see where he died."
Eight weeks have passed since Doxey, 19, drowned during a float trip down the McKenzie River and everyone, it seems, still is struggling to cope.

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