Dallas Cowboys head strength and conditioning coach Markus Paul, who was hospitalized Tuesday, is on life support, according to his family. Per the Dallas Morning News:
“Please keep my dad in your prayers,” his daughter, Tabitha Clairee, posted Tuesday on Facebook after inaccurate reports swirled on social media that her father was dead. “He is not gone yet, the doctors are doing everything they can possibly do for him. He is on life support and we are praying for a miracle. God has brought the dead back to life before and I need to believe that it can happen for my dad too. I can’t lose my dad yet, there’s still so much he has to watch me do and so much of my life I need him to be a part of. Please pull through this dad and please keep praying everyone.”
Paul was hospitalized Tuesday after experiencing a “medical emergency” according a statement released by the team.
There were a number of players lifting weights Tuesday morning around 7:30 when Paul, whose office opens into the weight room, collapsed. He was attended to immediately by the team’s medical personnel as paramedics were called. Club employees estimate it took five minutes or less for the ambulance to arrive. Paul was being driven to a nearby hospital just moments before the players were scheduled to assemble for their morning meeting.
The Cowboys canceled practice Tuesday after the 54-year-old was rushed to the hospital, just two days before Dallas is scheduled to play the Washington Football Team in an NFC East showdown on Thanksgiving Day at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Per Sports Illustrated, Paul was a defensive back at Syracuse from 1984 to 1988. The Syracuse Athletics website shows Paul was an All-American in 1988 and he held the school records for interceptions in a game (three) and career (19). According to Syracuse University, Paul was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation’s top college defensive back, in 1987 and 1988. Paul was named to Syracuse University’s All-Century team in November of 1999.
The Chicago Bears drafted Paul in the fourth round of the 1989 NFL Draft. Going 95th overall, Paul played more than four years with the Bears and finished his five-year NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1993. He played in 71 regular-season games, making 15 starts and pulling down seven interceptions.
According to Sports Illustrated, Paul spent time as an assistant with the New Orleans Saints (1998-99), New England Patriots (2000-04), New York Jets (2005-06) and New York Giants (2007-18).
He’s the proud owner of five Super Bowl rings: three with the Patriots and two with the Giants.
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