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Gillette Stadium death: Autopsy ‘did not suggest traumatic injury’

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The autopsy of Dale Mooney, the New Hampshire man who died at Gillette Stadium during Sunday’s game against the Dolphins, found nothing to suggest traumatic injury, according to the Norfolk District Attorney’s office.

“Preliminary autopsy results did not suggest traumatic injury, but did identify a medical issue. Cause and manner of death remain undetermined pending further testing,” DA spokesman David Traub wrote Wednesday morning.

The office asks that anyone with any information on the incident, or any witnesses to “the scuffle prior to Mr. Dale Mooney’s collapse,” to call State Police detectives stationed at the DA’s office at 781-830-4990.

As the Herald is reporting today, a fellow fan said Mooney was in a fight with a Dolphins fan near the end of Sunday’s game at Gillette.

Joe Kilmartin told the Herald Tuesday night he witnessed the Dolphins fan “punch” Mooney “in the face” near the end of the game. The Patriots went on to lose to the Dolphins 24-17.

This is a developing story.

Patriots great Devin McCourty to be recognized for his off-the-field contributions to New England

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Devin McCourty won’t be suiting up for the Patriots anymore, but the spotlight is still shining on the former team captain’s contributions to the New England community.

McCourty, who announced his retirement from the NFL in March, will be recognized in November for his service off the field when he receives the Embracing the Legacy Award from RFK Community Alliance.

The Lancaster-based nonprofit that provides all kinds of family support services is specifically placing its focus on what it says is one of McCourty’s “most pivotal moments in his career”: helping free a man serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole.

McCourty, teammates and other members of the Patriots organization during the 2021 season partnered with social justice advocates to free Brockton resident William Allen, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1997 after committing an armed robbery that killed 42-year-old Purvis Bester in 1994.

The advocacy work led to former Gov. Charlie Baker commuting Allen’s first-degree murder conviction, making him immediately eligible for parole, in January 2022. Allen was 48 at the time he was freed.

“People, especially children, shouldn’t be defined by the worst thing that they have done,” McCourty said in a release. “It is vital to showcase new pathways to break the systemic cycles that prevent people from reaching their full potential.”

The commutation marked the first to happen in 25 years in Massachusetts.

McCourty helped lead the Patriots to three Super Bowl championships during his 13-year career and is arguably destined to end up as a Hall of Famer, in Foxboro and in Canton. He earned two Pro Bowl nods and held one of the longest consecutive starts streaks in franchise history, making 115 straight starts and playing more than 12,000 snaps.

But RFK Community Alliance says his off-the-field impact is equally as noteworthy through his advocacy for social justice reform, focusing on the school-to-prison pipeline and juvenile justice reform. He is part of a host of various community initiatives across Boston and New England.

“When members of the community use their platform to champion equity and fairness, it has a profound impact and inspires lasting change,” the Alliance’s president and CEO Michael Ames said in a statement. “Devin is a model for us all, and his actions truly reflect the social values and hopes of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy.”

Ex-NFL QB Alex Smith gears up to bike 200 miles across Massachusetts for the Pan-Mass Challenge; last year has been ‘extremely difficult’ as daughter fights brain tumor

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A few years after suffering a catastrophic leg injury, former NFL QB Alex Smith is aiming to bike 200 miles across the Bay State in this weekend’s Pan-Mass Challenge as he raises money for cancer research.

The bike-a-thon fundraiser for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has become quite personal for the ex-quarterback, he told the Herald this week. Last year, his daughter Sloane was diagnosed with a very rare brain tumor.

“It has changed our lives forever,” Smith said ahead of this weekend’s PMC. “The last year-plus has been extremely difficult.”

His daughter last May was rushed to the ER with stroke-like symptoms. After an MRI, doctors discovered that she had a very rare brain tumor — called a neuroepithelial tumor — and she needed to undergo an emergency craniotomy.

Sloane bounced back from the brain surgery, but the tumor remains an unknown. She has to get scanned every eight weeks, and she underwent another resection a few months ago. Again, she rebounded well from it, but the family continues to “live scan-to-scan,” Smith said.

“It never goes very far in your mind as a parent,” he said, later adding, “It’s not something you ever anticipate going through.”

Before his daughter’s tumor diagnosis, Smith — who played for the San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Washington Football Team — became an advocate for the recovery footwear company OOFOS.

Following his horrific leg injury that almost led to an amputation in 2018, Smith started to wear OOFOS, which he stressed was key for his recovery.

Now, Smith is a member of Team OOFOS for his first PMC. OOFOS began riding in the PMC and raising money for patient care and cancer research back in 2015 when their first employee, Duncan Finigan, was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.

“OOFOS brought up doing the PMC last year, and now it hits even closer to home with my daughter,” Smith said.

He’ll be riding from Sturbridge to Bourne on Saturday, and then waking up on Sunday with likely sore legs to bike from Bourne to Provincetown. His longest ride during training has been 35 miles.

“This will definitely be a big step up for me,” Smith said, adding that his emotions for the weekend range from “excited” to “nervous and anxious.”

“I’m pumped to be going out there, but this is all so new to me,” he said, noting that this is his first foray into endurance sports.

Following the devastating injury in 2018, Smith returned to the NFL and was the 2020 AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He will always have a permanent drop foot in his right leg.

“My leg has felt great,” he said. “There are some permanent limitations, but it’s nothing I feel like I can’t overcome.

“I do have to adapt, but I think that’s also what excites me about going out to do stuff like this,” he added.

Smith will be riding alongside 6,400 other cyclists this weekend. PMC’s goal this year is to raise a record-breaking $70 million for Dana-Farber. PMC raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country.

“Roll the window down and clap this weekend,” PMC founder Billy Starr, who has participated in all 44 years, said to motorists.

PMC donates 100% of every rider-raised dollar directly to Dana-Farber to fund lifesaving cancer research, treatment and patient care. The organization is Dana-Farber’s single largest contributor, accounting for more than 60% of the annual revenue at the Jimmy Fund. Last year, the PMC raised $69 million, bringing its 43-year contribution to Dana-Farber to $900 million.

To learn more about the Pan-Mass Challenge and to donate, visit www.pmc.org.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith (11), left, passes the ball as New England Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers closes in past Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Eric Fisher during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game at Gillette Stadium on Thursday, September 7, 2017. Staff photo by Christopher Evans
Alex Smith will be setting out to bike from Sturbridge to Provincetown this weekend. (Herald file photo)

Local notebook: Gray heading home to Doyle

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It’s not every day that a Super Bowl champion visits Central Massachusetts.

Even more rare is the opportunity to learn on the gridiron from a player who has hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.

The latter is exactly what youth and high school football players will get at the third annual Noah Gray Football Clinic, set to be held at Doyle Field on June 17.

Gray, a former Leominster High standout who won the Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs this year in his second NFL season, will lead the clinic with guest coaches from the college ranks and the Leominster High coaching staff.

The one-day camp will feature a middle school session from 9 a.m. to 11:30, while high schoolers will take to the turf from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Tickets for the clinic go for $75 per participant and $30 for a second child in a family. More information and tickets can be found here.

Proceeds from the clinic will go to multiple area high school football programs.

Gray graduated from Leominster High School in 2017 and played four seasons of collegiate football at Duke University. He was drafted by the Chiefs in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL draft.

In his two pro seasons, the 6-foot-3 tight end has 28 receptions for 299 yards, scoring once receiving and one more time rushing the ball. Gray had one reception in Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12 as Kansas City topped the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35.

Gasbarro earns recognition

Worcester State freshman Bella Gasbarro, of Leominster, was named MASCAC Softball Rookie of the Week on Monday after a strong week which saw her Lancers go 4-0.

Leominster native and Worcester State freshman Bella Gasbarro has been named MASCAC Softball Rookie of the Week. (Courtesy Worcester State Athletics)
Leominster native and Worcester State freshman Bella Gasbarro has been named MASCAC Softball Rookie of the Week. (Courtesy Worcester State Athletics)

The infielder batted .533 (8-for-15) with a double, two triples, home run, four RBI, six runs scored, a 1.067 slugging percentage and .533 on-base percentage last week for the Lancers.

Gasbarro went 5-for-7 with a double, triple, two RBI and two runs scored in the doubleheader sweep of Anna Maria last Monday before going 3-for-8 with a triple, home run, two RBI and three runs scored in the doubleheader sweep of MCLA on Saturday.

Instant classic to open the season

In case you missed it, the Leominster High baseball team opened the season in thrilling fashion Saturday, topping Central Catholic, 2-1, in 12 innings.

Trailing early, Zach Casey pulled the Blue Devils even in the fourth inning, before both sides rattled off scoreless frames. Angel Baez eventually came through with the big hit, notching his second knock of the day in the 12th to score Nick Massa and propel the Blue Devils to the walk-off win.

Just as big as the timely hitting of Baez was the lockdown pitching of Ryan Garner. The Husson-bound senior pitched six shutout innings in the win, striking out seven. The southpaw allowed just one hit and issued just a single base on balls in earning the victory.

The Blue Devils return to the diamond Tuesday, traveling to Ashburnham to face 3-0 Oakmont Regional.

Ex-NFL players who had concussion symptoms performed worse on cognitive tests decades after retirement: Boston study

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Former NFL players who reported experiencing concussion symptoms while playing were more likely to perform worse on a series of cognitive tests decades after retirement, according to Boston researchers who studied more than 350 retired players.

When comparing the 350 former pro players to more than 5,000 men in the general population, cognitive performance was generally worse for retired players compared to the non-players, the Mass General Brigham scientists found in the new study.

The ex-players who had concussion symptoms during their careers scored worse on assessments of episodic memory, sustained attention, processing speed and vocabulary. They were studied an average of 29 years after their playing careers ended.

These results are the latest evidence of pro football’s impact on accelerating cognitive aging, said the researchers who stressed that more studies are needed to track cognitive performance in former players as they age.

“It is well-established that in the hours and days after a concussion, people experience some cognitive impairment. However, when you look decades out, the data on the long-term impact have been mixed,” said study senior author Laura Germine, director of the Laboratory for Brain and Cognitive Health Technology at McLean Hospital.

“These new findings from the largest study of its kind show that professional football players can still experience cognitive difficulties associated with head injuries decades after they have retired from the sport,” added Germine, who’s also an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

This new research is part of the ongoing Football Players Health Study at Harvard University.

For the study, 353 retired NFL players completed hour-long neuropsychological tests through an online platform called TestMyBrain.

The players were asked about the number of times they had the following symptoms after a blow to the head during a game or practice: headaches, nausea, dizziness, loss of consciousness, memory problems, disorientation, confusion, seizure, visual problems, or feeling unsteady on their feet.

The researchers found that the former players’ cognitive performance was tied to concussion symptoms. For example, differences in visual memory scores between former players with the highest and lowest reported concussion symptoms were the same as the differences in cognitive performance between a typical 35-year-old and 60-year-old man.

However, poor cognitive performance was not associated with diagnosed concussions, years of professional play or age of first football exposure. The researchers noted that many head injuries or sub-concussive blows may not have been diagnosed as concussions due to a lack of awareness at the time or underreporting of symptoms by players.

When comparing the retired players to a group of 5,086 men who did not play football, cognitive performance was generally worse for former players.

Noah Gray fever sweeps the region

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LEOMINSTER — When city resident Jenn Brideau posted in Leominsterites Unite about her young son imitating hometown football star Noah Gray on Super Bowl Sunday, the social media crowd went wild.

Hundreds reacted and dozens commented on Brideau’s Monday morning post: “Not sure if Noah Gray’s family is in this group, but just wanted to share. Our little boy is pretending to be Noah Gray today, playing in the Super Bowl…in our living room  #TheThingsDreamsAreMadeOf #InspiringANewGeneration.”

The mom of three said the morning of the Super Bowl LVII she overheard her youngest son, 6-year-old Donovan, playing out the football fantasy.

Noah Gray's mother Meagan Gray posted this photo of her Leominster native son kissing the Vince Lombardi Trophy following his team, the Kansas City Chiefs, winning Super Bowl LVII last Sunday. "It's been a wild ride." (COURTESY MEAGAN GRAY)
Noah Gray’s mother Meagan Gray posted this photo of her Leominster native son kissing the Vince Lombardi Trophy following his team, the Kansas City Chiefs, winning Super Bowl LVII last Sunday. “It’s been a wild ride.” (COURTESY MEAGAN GRAY)

“I was sitting getting the day started and all of a sudden, I hear in a whispered voice, ‘Noah Gray catches the ball, it’s a touchdown! Noah Gray wins the Super Bowl!’,” she recalled. “It was Donny, our youngest throwing a small football around.”

When his older brother Lucas, 8, woke up, the two of them started playing football together.

“Both boys love everything sports,” said Brideau, who is also mom to daughter Reagan, 11. The boys’ play continued into the following days after #83 tight end Gray and his team the Kansas City Chiefs won the big game on Sunday.

“Later that day when Donny came home from school, they used chalk to draw their yard lines and were playing out there until dark,” Brideau said of the boys on Monday. “First thing [Tuesday] morning, they went outside and continued their game, coming up with different scenarios.”

The family, who have lived in the city since 2018, are not alone in being caught up in the Noah Gray fever that has swept the region. It seems everyone has been on board with sporting Kansas City red in honor of the Leominster High School Class of 2017 graduate, typically a no-go for Blue Devil nation.

LHS Athletic Director Dave Palazzi, who was the head football coach during Gray’s time playing ball on the high school team, happily donned crimson along with his wife Sherry and their two daughters, Meadow, 12, and Liliana, 9. Sherry posted the family picture to her Facebook page on Super Bowl Sunday ahead of the game with the caption “Never thought I would see the day Dave wore red. Great job Noah!!!!!!”

“THIS RED IS FOR YOU, NOAH!  Go KC!,” she penned, and in a separate post referred to #84 as “a champion on and off the field.”

Leominster High School Athletic Director Dave Palazzi and his wife Sherry and daughters Meadow and Liliana donned red last Sunday in honor of hometown football star and now Super Bowl Champion Noah Gray, typically a no-go for Blue Devil nation. (COURTESY SHERRY PALAZZI)
Leominster High School Athletic Director Dave Palazzi and his wife Sherry and daughters Meadow and Liliana donned red last Sunday in honor of hometown football star and now Super Bowl Champion Noah Gray, typically a no-go for Blue Devil nation. (COURTESY SHERRY PALAZZI)

Dave quipped that he doesn’t usually wear that color and that he dug out a Red Sox shirt last Sunday.

“I don’t have a lot of red in the house,” he joked.

When asked how he feels about Gray not only making it to the NFL but playing in the Super Bowl and then winning it, Dave didn’t hesitate to say it’s all been “very exciting” to witness.

“He is such a great kid too, he was really a selfless high school student and worked with others and made people around him better,” Dave said, referring to the football player’s involvement with Best Buddies at LHS, a program where students mentor fellow students and young adults with disabilities.

Dave spent eight years as the head football coach at LHS before being promoted to athletic director in 2018. He said Gray was always determined and willing to put in the effort, which has paid off in a big way professionally.

“His quest was to really go to the next level, and he worked hard to get there,” Dave said of his former player. “I’m not surprised he made it but that’s not easy to do. What an accomplishment, people don’t attain that kind of success waking up. His determination and focus really worked out for him. Whatever time you put into something you are going to get out of it. That is what I look at with him having achieved his highest goal and my own everyday life.”

Dave said everyone at LHS is proud of the alumnus, including the teachers, staff, and students who had any part in “enabling him to make it” — and that that pride is felt way beyond the school.

“The city is proud and the whole community is really supporting him,” Dave said. “Everyone is really happy for Noah.”

Dave conveyed that a “good friend” who he played football with at UMass Amherst, Joe Cullen, is the Kansas City defensive line coach. He has been texting with Cullen following the exciting win and also “going back and forth” with Noah’s dad Jason Gray, whom he talks to occasionally.

“They are of course so proud,” Dave said of the Gray family, who were at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona to witness Kansas City trumping the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35. Gray’s personal cheering squad at the game included his parents, Meagan and Jason Gray, his wife Mary Gray, and his siblings Asher and Hannah.

Noah Gray's personal cheering squad at Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12 in Arizona, where his team the Kansas City Chiefs bested the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35, included his parents and (l. to r.) his wife Mary Gray and his siblings Asher and Hannah. (COURTESY MEAGAN GRAY)
Noah Gray’s personal cheering squad at Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12 in Arizona, where his team the Kansas City Chiefs bested the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35, included his parents and, left to right, his wife Mary Gray and his siblings Asher and Hannah. (COURTESY MEAGAN GRAY)

When asked what it felt like to watch her son win the Super Bowl and the exhilarating aftermath, his mom said, “it’s been a wild adventure.”

“Nobody climbs Everest alone,” Mary Gray said on Thursday. “Noah has absolutely put in the work required to have earned his success and the opportunity to hold that trophy in his hands. He also knows he had an amazing community, friends and family who supported that climb. He’s a phenomenal athlete but he’s an even more remarkable human and we’re so lucky to be his parents with a front row seat.”

Mayor Dean Mazzarella also shared his thoughts on the football phenom on Thursday and said that he’s been a member of the Noah Gray fandom nation for years. He bought a Gray shirt “the next day after they picked him up,” denoting Gray being drafted by the Chiefs in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft following his success and LHS and playing football at Duke University.

“If you think of how many kids come out of our sports programs there’s some big talent but this is the dream of all dreams,” Mazzarella said of the now Super Bowl champion. “The dream to play college or semi-pro whatever sport it is, the dream to make it to the team, even the practice team, is a big deal. And then to play and then to actually play in the Super Bowl and then to have your team win, it is a dream upon a dream upon a dream.”

The mayor listed other “Leominster kids” who went on to play professional sports and talked about Gray being known as someone who enjoys giving back. Besides being a Best Buddies fixture as an LHS student, Gray has done multiple football camps with local youth during the summer at Doyle Field and Mazzarella said he plans to come back this year.

“He’s a good guy,” Mazzarella imparted. “He said ‘I can’t wait to get back, I can’t wait to give back doing the summer camps with the kids.’”

A giant banner hanging at City Hall reads “Super Bowl LVII Champions Congratulations To Noah Gray & The Kansas City Chiefs.” Mazzarella said that if Gray is available and willing, they’d be happy to put on a celebratory parade for him at some point.

A banner hanging at Leominster City Hall proudly celebrates hometown football star Noah Gray, who recently won Super Bowl LVII with his team the Kansas City Chiefs. (L. to r.) City benefits coordinator Wendy Larson, Mayor Dean Mazzarella, city grant writer and mayoral aide Wendy Wiiks, Kerry Boudreau from the city payroll department, and Leominster Fire Chief Robert II posed under the banner on Thursday. (DANIELLE RAY/SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE)
A banner hanging at Leominster City Hall proudly celebrates hometown football star Noah Gray, who recently won Super Bowl LVII with his team the Kansas City Chiefs. Left to right: City Benefits Coordinator Wendy Larson, Mayor Dean Mazzarella, city Grant Writer and Mayoral Aide Wendy Wiiks, Kerry Boudreau from the city payroll department, and Leominster Fire Chief Robert Sideleau posed under the banner on Thursday. (DANIELLE RAY/SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE)

“We contacted the front office before the game,” Mazzarella said. “If he does come out why not make a big deal out of it, it is a big deal.”

People would certainly be excited to have the opportunity to celebrate the hometown football star who gives so much of himself both on and off the field.

“It reflects back,” Mazzarella said of Gray’s altruistic nature and well-deserved success. “Every kid should go to bed at night thinking it’s possible to achieve your dreams.”