Tommy Tomlinson: How Jared Lorenzen impressed so many, together with me

We by no means bought to be pals, precisely. We have been extra like troopers who had fought in the identical struggle. We talked in shorthand. I did not have to clarify consuming a field of Woman Scout cookies in a single sitting. He did not have to clarify looking for a pair of pants that match his waist and his thighs on the identical time.

In numerous the necessary methods, we had lived one another’s lives.

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In different methods, we hadn’t. Jared Lorenzen had been a star quarterback at Kentucky and received a Tremendous Bowl ring with the New York Giants. I might had desk jobs my complete life, stringing collectively phrases for a dwelling. That is why I used to be writing about him, as an alternative of the opposite means round. However after we talked — and we talked quite a bit, that spring and summer season of 2014 — I felt like I used to be speaking to a mirror.

I am simply now realizing that we by no means ate a meal collectively. That might have been fraught for each of us.

I wished to jot down about Jared as a result of I used to be afraid to jot down my very own story. Jared was often called the most important quarterback anybody had ever seen; he typically performed at greater than 300 kilos, and by the point I met him, he was someplace about 400. However he wasn’t as massive as me. That yr, I used to be closing in on a excessive of 460, and I had this bizarre two-sided life: I liked my work and liked my spouse and liked my pals, however I typically hated myself as a result of I could not management my weight and I knew sooner or later it will kill me.

For years, I had been hauling round the concept that I ought to write about all that — that I ought to share an important story of my life. However I used to be afraid to disclose the darkest components of myself. And I used to be petrified of the harm it’d do to the individuals I liked. So I stuffed all that again inside and stored writing about different individuals.

Telling Jared’s story was an alternative to telling mine.

I went to his workplace. I went to the radio station the place he labored half time. I watched him play Wiffle ball with comic Jay Mohr. I frolicked on the condominium he had simply moved into, strewn with containers and garments and toys belonging to his two youngsters. The one factor he had managed to do was hook up the TV. On one in all my interview tapes, you’ll be able to hear golf announcers within the background, calling the British Open.

I talked to his mother and his ex-wife and his outdated agent and a bunch of his coaches. All of them liked him and cared about him. None of them knew how you can assist him.

I attempt to maintain myself out of tales I write about different individuals. However as I wrote Jared’s story, it grew to become clear I needed to put myself in. My battle was the entire cause I used to be writing about his. I began the story this manner:

Jared Lorenzen and I are in love with the identical girl. Her title is Little Debbie, and he or she makes scrumptious snack truffles.

The story on Jared ran that August and have become one in all ESPN’s most-read tales that yr. I bought lots of of emails and messages from readers who had their very own weight points and noticed one thing in Jared’s story that made them wish to change. I forwarded a bunch of these emails to Jared. He was listening to from lots of people too. His story moved so many.

One of many individuals Jared impressed was me. As I listened to him being so open and sincere about his weight, I began to suppose that my story could be price telling too. I wrote a ebook proposal for a memoir, and we discovered a writer. That ebook, “The Elephant within the Room,” got here out this previous January. Since then, I’ve heard from lots of of extra readers who have been motivated to alter due to the ebook or who used it as a solution to join with somebody they know with a weight drawback.

The ebook wouldn’t exist if not for Jared displaying me the best way.

I despatched him a duplicate when it got here out. We had stored in contact on and off through the years. He did not say a lot besides that he was doing OK. However each infrequently, I noticed pictures of him on-line. As I used to be getting smaller, he was getting greater.

Jared Lorenzen, a record-setting quarterback for Kentucky, died Wednesday after a battle with cardiac and renal points. He was 38. Andy Lyons/Getty Photos

Jared died on Wednesday. He had gone into the hospital final week with an an infection and coronary heart and kidney points. I do not know for a undeniable fact that they have been associated to his weight, however it appears probably. He was solely 38.

After the story got here out, he began an organization referred to as Throwboy Tees; one in all his nicknames as a participant was the Pillsbury Throwboy. He labored on the radio crew at Kentucky soccer video games. He at all times had a enterprise concept or two in his head. However I do not know that he ever discovered something with the readability and goal that soccer gave him.

A few years after the story, he lastly went to the physician and stepped on a scale for the primary time in years. He weighed 560 kilos.

For some time, he did a video sequence referred to as “The Jared Lorenzen Venture” about his battle to get again in form. When ESPN’s present, E:60, did a bit on him final yr, he had dropped all the way down to 477. This previous February, he was the topic of an internet documentary sequence, additionally referred to as “The Jared Lorenzen Venture.” The final clip on the sequence’ Fb web page is from two months in the past. He appears drained and harassed.

Jared had instructed the E:60 crew that he was keen to be the face of weight problems, to be the one to face up and say, “I am fats,” after which to indicate individuals what it took to get higher. He had a need to alter individuals with the drive of his persona, the best way I at all times hope to alter individuals with my phrases.

Wednesday evening, on Twitter, a reader named Noble Brown instructed a narrative about studying my story on Jared. On the time, Noble was about to show 40 and weighed greater than 300 kilos. He learn the story and stared on the unopened can of Dr Pepper on his desk. He resolved to by no means drink it. He began consuming higher and exercising. Now he lifts weights 5 instances every week, and 5K races are a breeze.

His complete thread reads like poetry, and it ends this manner:

As unusual because it sounds

In some small means

Jared Lorenzen saved my life

I’m deeply saddened to listen to of his passing

He was youthful than I used to be once I turned my life round

Maybe in a number of years, he might need carried out the identical

I am honored and humbled that the story on Jared has made a distinction for therefore many. I want my phrases had been sturdy sufficient to make the distinction for Jared. His braveness made a lot of a distinction for me.