Former Los Angeles Chargers and Ohio State offensive sort out Shane Olivea has died at age 40, the Chargers announced Thursday. The workforce didn’t announce Olivea’s explanation for dying.
Olivea performed for Ohio State from 2000-2003 and helped lead the Buckeyes to a nationwide championship in 2002. The Chargers took Olivea within the seventh spherical of the 2004 NFL Draft, and he proceeded to start out all however seven of the workforce’s regular-season video games over the subsequent 4 years.
In 2006, Chargers legend LaDainian Tomlinson set an NFL file with 28 dashing touchdowns with Olivea beginning each recreation at proper sort out.
After Olivea’s fourth season in San Diego, nevertheless, he entered rehab to handle an opioid habit he developed throughout his rookie yr. Olivea informed the Columbus Dispatch he took 125 Vicodin drugs a day on the peak of his habit, an quantity giant sufficient for his docs to name him being alive a “strolling miracle.”
“There wasn’t at some point within the NFL I wasn’t excessive on a tablet after my rookie yr,” Olivea stated.
The Chargers lower Olivea whereas he was in rehab, and he by no means performed one other NFL recreation. Olivea ultimately performed for 2 groups within the now defunct United States Soccer League, although.
However whereas Olviea could not recapture his NFL profession, he discovered sobriety. Olivea stayed clear for a number of years after his 89-day stint on the Betty Ford Heart in California, and in 2015 he re-enrolled at Ohio State to complete his diploma.
In 2016, after eight years sober, the then 35-year-old Olivea graduated with a level in sports activities trade.
“I checked out it like thrice,” Olivea stated of his Ohio State diploma. “I by no means thought I would ever see a university diploma with my title on it.”
