A Moment for Andy Irons

"I surf because I'm always a better person when I come in."

Surfing holds a special place in my heart, even though I am terrible at it. As Andy Irons says in the above video, I always feel like a better person after getting out of the water. To be completely honest, I haven't thought about Andy Irons for years. That changed last night, as news of his death spread beyond surfers and surfing fans. He had withdrawn from a contest in Puerto Rico and was on his way back to Kauai, which included the layover in Dallas, where he was found in his hotel room after not responding to a wake-up call. Right now, the assumed cause of death is a virus transmitted by mosquitoes called Dengue fever, although the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports, "The medical examiner's office said it is investigating his death as a possible overdose of methadone." That's pretty much all the details that have been released about the situation, and the lack of details surrounding his death only makes it more shocking. Even though people around him knew Irons was suffering from Dengue fever, no one is ever prepared for the death of a 32-year-old world class athlete.

I don't have a great deal to add to the mounting number of blog posts and news stories, mainly because I am left as stunned as everyone else. This is one of those deaths that lingers and has me asking myself unanswerable questions. At the very least, Irons's death reminds me of the very first sports rivalry I ever witnessed; I watched from the beach in 2003 as Irons beat Kelly Slater in the Pipeline Masters to win ASP World Tour, a victory that proved that finally, someone had arrived to challenge Slater's supremacy as the tour's best surfer. On a higher level, his death is simply shocking, sad, and the unfortunate loss of a great surfer and a good person who embraced his status as a role model to his community.