Korey Stringer died from heat stroke 25 years ago. His widow has made prevention her life’s mission

(AP) — The memory of losing her husband is so hauntingly clear 25 years later that Kelci Stringer could still draw a detailed picture of her hurried path to the hospital room where Korey Stringer died from exertional heat stroke. Having arrived in the middle of the night, she realized she was too late once she saw Vikings teammates Cris Carter and Randy Moss sobbing on the floor. For all that went tragically wrong at the beginning of that training camp in 2001 in Mankato, Minnesota, Kelci Stringer has since made a life mission of keeping others from such a preventable death.

“The work we’re doing and the way we’re doing the work is most important to me because we’re giving back in a way that’s very exemplary of Korey,” Stringer said. Named after the only NFL player known to have died from heat stroke, the Korey Stringer Institute opened in 2010 with three employees at the University of Connecticut and now has a 100-person staff and a satellite branch in Florida. Chief executive officer Douglas Casa, a professor of kinesiology who survived his own brush with death at age 16 when he collapsed while running a 10-kilometer race, has counted 463 laws and policies over all 50 states that have been changed or created by KSI’s advocacy.

“Not too many medical situations are 100% preventable when you do the right things,” Casa said. Funding for KSI was part of the settlement of the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the NFL by Kelci Stringer, who with Korey Stringer’s former agent, Jimmy Gould, was inspired to bring about lasting good from the regret and sadness. What is a couple million dollars going to do?

That can’t bring him back,” Stringer said this week in a phone interview with The Associated Press. It was, ‘Can I just know?’ That was part of the closure and part of the peace.” The Vikings will mark the 25-year anniversary on Saturday afternoon prior to their first open-to-fans practice of training camp, with Kelci Stringer speaking at the tribute and KSI staffing a tent with a public display of the work being done on heat safety with athletes at all levels, day laborers and military members. Despite the decade of litigation, Korey Stringer’s inner circle has forged a lasting and respectful relationship with the Vikings and t…