Updated at 6:37 a.m., Thursday, January 3, 2008
NFL: Ex-Saints nose tackle Tony Elliott, 48, dies
Associated Press
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Tony Elliott, the former New Orleans Saints nose tackle who was later paralyzed in a shooting, died at his home in the city this week. He was 48.A health care aide found Elliott dead in his bed Monday, apparently from natural causes, according to his brother, Carl Elliott. Morton's Mortuary confirmed his death Thursday.
The Saints selected Elliott out of North Texas in the fifth round of the 1982 draft. He had 13 sacks in seven years with the Saints.
He played defensive end at Harding High School from 1973 to 1976, earning All-America honors as a senior.
Elliott was paralyzed from the waist down by a shooting in Stamford in 2000 after he retired from football, his brother said.
"He was confined to a wheelchair and suffered from congestive heart failure, high blood pressure and diabetes," Carl Elliott told the Connecticut Post.
