Aaron Hernandez

There’s not really a good way to describe the life of Aaron Hernandez. A man given so much opportunity and so much talent wasted his life away by getting involved in gang violence and various influences off the football field that weren’t exactly positive. It’s very unfortunate that he’s dead, especially after being proven not guilty in the latest murder case he had been accused in. After this particular case, the original one that got him locked up in the first place was then going to be appealed. However, Hernandez would not live to see this happen, as he was found dead in his cell at 3:00 am on Wednesday morning. People generally have mixed opinions on the man, as he was both endowed with absurd football talent and accused of being a murderer and had been imprisoned for it. The following is a look back on Hernandez’s life, and the struggles he experienced leading down to the dark path he took.

Aaron Hernandez grew up in the town of Bristol, CT, being raised by his mother and father. However, when he was only 16 years old, he lost his father due to complications during a surgery. Supposedly, this is the event that triggered Hernandez to then lead the life he did. Without a father figure, he didn’t have a guide to help him through other hardships he had during his life. Hernandez got involved with the wrong crowd following this event and he simply couldn’t escape from it. In high school, he attempted to use sports as an outlet. For many, football players in particular, the love of the game is enough for one to leave a life of crime behind and to simply focus on the passion they have for a professional sports career. Unfortunately, the sports world would not help Hernandez, as legal issues followed him out of Bristol and down to Florida, where he played college football. Coached by Urban Meyer, with none other than Tim Tebow throwing him the ball, Hernandez was very successful in college… at least on the field. However, there were multiple incidents in which Hernandez was involved with shootings and bar fights while he was in Florida. Constantly getting into trouble off the field, Hernandez would continue this trend when he joined the NFL.

Hernandez joined the New England Patriots in 2010. For a while, there weren’t any incidents he was involved in. He hung around with a bad crowd however, and in 2012, he allegedly committed a double homicide after an incident in a Boston bar. He was proven not guilty earlier this week, and Hernandez’s law team decided to appeal the 2013 case in which he had been shown to be guilty. Hernandez had been accused of the murder of Odin Lloyd, supposedly a friend of Hernandez. Before the appeal had officially gone through however, Hernandez wound up dead in his cell, after what is reported to be a suicide. Legally this means Hernandez died an innocent man, due to the appeal he had yet to be proven guilty for the 2013 case. It’s unfortunate that Hernandez had to turn to this terrible life of crime. After being gifted tremendous hands and the size and skill to play professional football, he was also given one of the best college Quarterbacks and then given the greatest NFL Quarterback. Hernandez could have been one of the greats. However, his life is no more and all that talent amounted to nothing due to the rough life he lived off the field.

Written by Rick Wronski