Former New York Giants lineman Mitch Petrus, 32, dies of heat stroke in Arkansas which is reeling under intense heatwave
Popular former NFL player Mitch Petrus has died because of a heat stroke on Thursday (18 July). The 32-year-old, who won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 2012, had reportedly complained about feeling ill on Thursday after spending all day working outside his family's shop at Lonoke County, Arkansas.
Petrus was rushed to the Baptist Health Medical Center-North Little Rock, Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs said.
He died at 10:45, after suffering heatstroke, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported.
The development comes as the state has been battling extreme heat conditions for the past few days.
A heat advisory was in effect in major parts of Arkansas on Thursday, including Lonoke County, where temperatures reached the low-to-mid 90s and the heat index made the region hotter than 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Reports state that the heat advisory continues to be in effect on Friday for nearly half of the northern region of the state.
Petrus was a University of Arkansas walk-on who played alongside Razorback greats Darren McFadden and Felix Jones and later earned all-SEC honors, the Associated Press reported. He was drafted by the Giants in the fifth round in 2010 and had a three-year NFL career, winning a Super Bowl with New York in his second season and playing briefly for the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans the following year.
A 2014 Razorbacks.com article called Mitch Petrus “the great walk-on triumph.”