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A father's grief: James Dungy 1987-2005

Public support amid private pain

An autopsy sheds little light on James Dungy's apparent suicide. His funeral will be in Idlewild.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER and CANDACE RONDEAUX
Published December 24, 2005

[Times photo: Stefanie Boyar]

The marquee at Gaither High School honors James Dungy, a former student and member of the football team. Dungy attended school there for a year before moving to Indiana.

TAMPA - Former Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy and his wife, grieving over the death of their 18-year-old son, James, left Tampa on Friday to spend the Christmas holiday with family in Indianapolis.

But the Dungys will return here early next week to bury James Dungy, long a fixture on the sidelines at Bucs games, in a service open to the public.

As investigators continued to withhold details of Dungy's death, his family planned a Tuesday morning funeral in a church that holds 5,200 people. The public is invited to the 11 a.m. funeral at Idlewild Baptist Church, 18371 N Dale Mabry Highway in Lutz.

Idlewild pastors Jeffery Singletary and Ken Whitten will officiate.

Whitten said that the family had been moved by the outpouring of support from the Tampa Bay area and that they were "grateful and appreciative." "They're hurting - as we would expect them to be - but hopeful," he said, "because they know not only where James is, but they know one day there will be a great family reunion with him again."

After the funeral, burial will follow at Garden of Memories cemetery, 4207 E Lake Ave. in Tampa.

The family also has opened Dungy's viewing to the public. It will be 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at Wilson Funeral Home, 3000 N 29th St. in Tampa.

Meanwhile, an autopsy performed Friday shed little light on Dungy's death.

Echoing what Hillsborough sheriff's investigators said a day earlier, an associate Hillsborough County medical examiner concluded after an autopsy that James Dungy's death was an "apparent suicide."

But Dr. Jacqueline Lee will not rule on the exact cause of death until she sees the results of toxicology and tissue tests. It typically takes four to six weeks for those tests to be completed.

Dick Bailey, office manager for the Medical Examiner's Office, stressed that such tests are standard procedure. A toxicology test would show evidence of foreign substances in Dungy's body, anything from caffeine to illegal drugs. A tissue - or histology - test would show signs of disease, Bailey said.

The fact that Lee is waiting for the tests does not mean the autopsy didn't already indicate how Dungy killed himself, according to the Medical Examiner's Office.

"We do complete tests on all autopsies," Bailey said. "It doesn't matter who the person is. The only difference with this case is, we're getting a lot of calls from the media."

Dungy's death, coming during the holidays and as Tony Dungy's Indianapolis Colts head to the NFL playoffs, has garnered national attention.

Dungy's girlfriend, 18-year-old Antoinette Anderson, called 911 about 1:30 a.m. Thursday after finding him unresponsive in his Lutz apartment, according to the Sheriff's Office.

A sheriff's deputy performed CPR until paramedics arrived and rushed him to University Community Hospital, where Dungy was pronounced dead.

The Hillsborough County medical examiner reported 144 suicides in 2004. In Pinellas and Pasco counties, 244 people died last year by suicide.

Sheriff's investigators would not say Friday what they found when they arrived at Dungy's apartment in the Campus Lodge complex or speculate on what might have led Dungy to kill himself. They also did not release Anderson's 911 call.

Anderson and her family declined reporters' interview requests.

But a recent incident suggests that Dungy, known for his humor and easygoing personality, struggled with depression.

On the evening of Oct. 21, inside the Lutz apartment, he swallowed four pills of hydrocodone and nine to 10 pills of naproxen, according to a sheriff's report.

Hydrocodone is an addictive narcotic used for pain relief. Naproxen is an anti-inflammatory drug used to reduce pain and stiffness caused by conditions including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. It is the active ingredient in Aleve.

Dungy called 911 to say he took the pills because he was depressed, and he believed he had overdosed, according to the incident report. Paramedics took him to University Community Hospital.

A Hillsborough sheriff's deputy completed a report to have Dungy evaluated at UCH under the Baker Act, a 1971 Florida law that empowers officers to seek mental evaluations for people likely to harm themselves or others.

But sheriff's officials did not release the deputy's report Friday, and Dungy's medical records are sealed under medical privacy laws. So it was not known whether he was evaluated or treated.

The Baker Act allows for the involuntary confinement of a person for 72 hours. It is frequently invoked when law enforcement officers confront mentally ill people who refuse help. Some of those cases end in longer-term involuntary commitments to mental health facilities. But experts say Baker Act cases such as Dungy's are just as common and typically don't result in forced commitments.

"They have to think that you're a danger to yourself or others, and if they do, then they can take you involuntarily to a public receiving facility," said Deborah Spellman, regional administrator of the Florida Department of Children and Families' substance abuse and mental health office.

"A lot of people might go in and feel depressed, but those people can be hooked up with a psychiatrist or a counseling center so those people don't stay involuntarily," she said.

More than 15,000 people in Florida this year were brought to public facilities under the Baker Act. About 3,800 were in the Tampa Bay area, according to DCF.

Dungy, the second-oldest of Tony Dungy's five children, was known for a silly sense of humor. At 6-feet-7, he was the towering, lanky teen who told jokes and danced to entertain friends.

But in an interview in Indianapolis last week, Tony Dungy expressed concern that James had decided to live on his own in Tampa, where he was attending Hillsborough Community College.

Coach Dungy said his son seemed to be struggling.

Other fathers and sons had the Dungys on their minds Friday - including a few who shopped for Christmas gifts at Bucs and Bulls Heaven in North Tampa.

Dave Witkwoski of Wesley Chapel, shopping with his sons Chad, 12, and Zach, 9, was struck by the death of a young man starting a new life.

"To have it end that way, it's just rotten," he said.

Manny O'Bryant of Valrico bought a sympathy card to send the former Bucs coach.

"Any time a tragedy happens to a family, it's horrible," O'Bryant said. "But it's especially horrible because it happened to Dungy."

Bucs and Bulls Heaven set up a box for cards and donations to Dungy charities.

"We thought it would give fans who were shopping a chance to do something for the Dungy family," said Gerry D'Angelo, the store's executive director.

At sports bars from Tampa to Indianapolis, televisions switched from ESPN to news stations.

A message on the Press Box marquee reads: "Our prayers are with the Dungy family."

In front of Gaither High School, where Dungy played football his junior year, a marquee message reads: "Jesus Christ - Our own James Dungy together forever."

Times staff writers Kevin Graham, Rick Stroud and Alexandra Zayas contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

The Indianapolis Colts have provided an address where condolences can be sent to the Dungy family:

Pastor Clarence C. Moore

Northside New Era Baptist Church

517 W 30th St.

Indianapolis, IN 46208.

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