Thousands share Dungy's sorrow

More than 2,000 turn out to console ex-Bucs coach Tony Dungy and his wife over the loss of their son.

	[Times photos: Daniel Wallace]
	Tony Dungy leaves the Wilson Funeral Home on Monday in Tampa after a wake for his son James, 18, attended by more than 2,000 people.
	Buccaneer Mike Alstott, left, was among the roughly 2,000 people who attended the wake.
	Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks, center, was among the hundreds who turned out Monday at the Wilson Funeral Home in Tampa.

TAMPA - More than 2,000 people gave their condolences in an east Tampa funeral home Monday night, as Tony and Lauren Dungy began final preparations to bury their 18-year-old son, James.

Friends, strangers, it didn't matter.

One by one, the Dungys greeted them all, exchanging hugs and standing for nearly four hours in front of their son's cherrywood casket.

"It's good to see everybody," Tony Dungy whispered in one woman's ear.

"Thank you," Lauren Dungy said with a soft voice to someone else.

Tony Dungy is the hugely popular former head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and now coaches the Indianapolis Colts.

James Dungy died Thursday in an apparent suicide, the associate Hillsborough County medical examiner concluded. His girlfriend found him unresponsive in his Lutz apartment.

The exact cause of death has not been released, pending the results of toxicology and tissue tests, which could take four to six weeks.

In the lines outside the Wilson Funeral Home Monday, where people warmed themselves in Buccaneers winter jackets, people held back tears until the Dungys arrived at 4:30 p.m. The Dungys disappeared behind closed doors for private time.

At 5 p.m., they invited the public in.

Their children sat in pews in front and looked up at the strangers who filed past.

When the family finally left the funeral home - their faces worn and tired - there were shouts of, "We love you, Tony!" and "God bless you Tony and your family!"

People will gather again today at 11 a.m. for a funeral service at Idlewild Baptist Church on N Dale Mabry Highway.

At the public viewing, the Dungys found reasons to laugh in the stories that people shared. Sometimes they cried. And sometimes, they paused to hug each other and wipe the tears from their eyes.

Inside the coffin they had chosen for their son were three crosses and the words, "In God's Care."

A floral arrangement in the shape of a horseshoe and the Indianapolis Colts colors - blue and white - sat to the side.

James Dungy wore a black suit, pink shirt and pink tie that matched the pink lining of the coffin. Playing over the speakers inside the chapel was the song The Storm Is Over Now .

The song replayed in a loop: "No more cloudy days, they're all gone away; I feel like I can make it, the storm is over now ..."

Alberta Jackson, 62, of Tampa, had a song she shared with Tony Dungy.

"I have children of my own, and I just wanted to see if my being here would help lighten his burden," Jackson said.

She told him the words to a song she called I Still Have Joy , which she said helps carry her through rough times in her life.

Afterward, she remembered what Tony Dungy had told her: "Oh yes. The wife and I still have joy, too."

Among those at the wake were former Tampa mayor Dick Greco and football players Mike Alstott, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Martin Gramatica. The entire Colts football team is expected to arrive by chartered plane today for the funeral.

"We'll support Coach Dungy whenever he needs us," Gramatica said. "This is just sad. I know his faith is going to bring him through."

Gramatica said James Dungy and his brother, Eric Dungy, were his ball boys when he played for the Bucs.

"I got to know him as more than just the coach's kid," Gramatica said. "James was the type of kid you expect from a guy like Coach Dungy."

Greco, one of Tony Dungy's fishing buddies, looked around the ever-growing crowd outside and said that it spoke to the love that Tampa Bay has for the Dungys.

"This is a testimony to a man like Tony," Greco said. "Tony Dungy is a good football coach. But he's an even better man."

Julia E. Jackson, 43, of Tampa, does freelance photography and said she used to photograph the Dungy children when they lived in Tampa. She was one of dozens who shared a personal story with the Dungys before walking by the casket.

She told them of the time that Tony and James Dungy played disciples in a play and James had forgotten his lines.

"Oh, I had forgotten about that," Lauren Dungy said with a laugh before giving Jackson a hug.

Jackson said James Dungy was a humble young man who didn't want to be known as the coach's son. "I just want to be a homeboy," she said he would say.

She said she was grateful to James Dungy for encouraging her now 16-year-old son to stay in school.

Doreatha K. Dell, of Brandon, didn't care too much for the Bucs.

But she loved Tony Dungy.

"I'm such a great fan of his," she said. "I let him know that I prayed for him before every game."

And she's praying for him now.

Kenyata White, 24, of Tampa, didn't go inside the funeral home. He thought showing up and standing across the street was support enough.

"It's just sad to see another person just fall like this, no matter what it is," he said. "That's why I'm out here standing with the other sad faces. That could be one of my people in there one day."

--Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com

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