|
  |
Jeff Modesitt - a one-game Buccaneer
Whilst researching the feature on the 1987 replacement team, I began tracking down players I knew little or nothing about. The former Tampa Bay Bandits on the strike team were fairly easy to obtain career information about, but there were some names that meant little or nothing, even after going through the Elias Sports Bureau's NFL records.
One of these was TE Jeff Modesitt. He played in just one of the three replacement games but there was one entry in his Elias record that did make me take notice - died August 3, 1990.
In conjunction with the Sports Media department at Delaware University, I was able to find out more about this one-game Buccaneer, a lot more indeed.
Jeff Modesitt was eating with friends at approximately 4.30am a Waffle House restaurant when an argument broke out with another group. The argument spilled outside where one of the other group pulled a gun and shot Modesitt in the chest. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Grady Memorial Hospital.
"It's always tragic when one of your own passes away" said University of Delaware Athletic Director Edgar N.Johnson. "We are very sorry to have lost a member of the University of Delaware family. Our thoughts are with Jeff's family and friends."
But this was not the only tragedy that affected Modesitt in his time after football. In December 1989, he was involved in an accident with a former Atlanta Falcons team-mate that left TE Brad Beckman dead. Gwinnett County police spokesman Larry Walton said Beckman was riding in a car driven by Modesitt, that bumped into the rear of another vehicle, skidded across the northbound lanes of Interstate 85 and was hit broadside by a truck. The accident occurred nine miles south of the team's training complex.
"It just devastates you" interim Falcon coach Jim Hanifan said at the time. "Brad had a lot to offer in life, a good personality and to have it snuffed out like this just staggers you."
This was the second tragedy that affected the 1989 Falcons as rookie tackle Ralph Norwood was killed a month earlier when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel of his car and hit a tree. "This second tragedy in less than a month brings remorse to all of us" Falcons president Rankin Smith Jr said. "Any death is truly saddening but to lose young men like this is devastating and leaves such a void in all of our lives."
Modesitt suffered a broken pelvis, broken left elbow, broken left leg, concussion and had a toe amputated as a result of the accident.
Modesitt's playing career after his one game stint with the Buccaneer strike team resumed in 1988 when he signed with the Cleveland Browns but spent the entire season on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. He was acquired by the Falcons in 1989 under the new Plan B free agency agreement but was released in May that year without having even attended an Atlanta mini-camp.
He was the starting tight end on the Delaware Blue Hen team that won the 1986 Yankee Conference title with a 9-4 overall mark. His career college record amounted to 40 receptions for 586 yards and three touchdowns.
| |
|