Authorities try to determine how Leslie Jordan died as mourning fans flock to crash site of NFL player
The last words of Leslie Jordan, the retired NFL player, came to his son’s attention Thursday when a fan texted him, sharing a photo she had taken showing Jordan collapsed on his feet.
“He said, ‘Dad, could you take a picture of this? It’s awful,’ and I took a picture of him like that,” said Jordan’s son, Joe, who found the photo on his account on Facebook and put it up on the family’s page.
Jordan’s death Saturday at age 69 was found by an autopsy Thursday to be a heart attack, according to the coroner’s office.
The family posted details of the autopsy and more, as well as its condolences to Jordan’s family and friends, on its Facebook page and on Twitter.
In that same account with the photo, Jordan said his chest had just been cut open and the heart was still beating.
“It was a big, big, big hole,” he told his son, according to the post. “It looks like someone just went through me with a knife.”
Leslie Jordan’s body was found Saturday but the cause of his death remains under investigation. Jordan was a four-time Pro Bowl player with the Green Bay Packers. He played from 1976-2001 with seven NFL teams, the Los Angeles Rams, Oakland Raiders and the New York Giants.
In the photo, Jordan lies on his back on a grassy field, his left arm extended horizontally with his hand facing the ground. His right arm is curled, held tight to his side.
By the time his son had posted it on Facebook, Jordan had already collapsed and lost consciousness. The photo was taken at the end of the Green Bay Packers’ season against the Miami Dolphins, and Jordan was taking a rest just after halftime. Jordan got up and was walking toward the locker room when he collapsed.
At his locker that afternoon, Jordan’s teammates told his son they noticed a difference in their father.
“When we saw him, he was normal,” Jordan’s son said.
A memorial service is scheduled for later this week. Jordan leaves behind an 11-year NFL career and a wife, Elizabeth, who was 10 months pregnant with their first child.