On Friday night February 1, 2013, the night before Tyrice passed, doctors brought those close to him back to his hospital room. Tyrice had been on life support and was last coherent while in the ambulance that rushed him to the hospital five days earlier. Family and friends would see Tyrice one last time.

“All of the conversations people had with Tyrice that week were kind of one-sided, you know,” Rudy said. “I was one of the last people to go in to see Ty that night. There was no way I was going to leave that room until I played our song one last time. I grabbed my phone, opened Pandora and found my Bob Marley station. For 45 minutes to an hour, I kept forwarding songs until ‘Trenchtown Rock’ came on. I put the phone on Ty’s chest and held his hand as it played. It was really important to share that moment physically. Then I said a little prayer, and left.”

Rudy took this screen-shot of his phone as soon as he grabbed it off his night-stand

The next morning at 7:59 AM, Brandi who was communicating closely with Ty’s sister, Torrie Thompson, received a text. Rudy knew that Torrie was going to reach Brandi once Tyrice had passed.

Rudy warned me about what he was going to tell me next because, as he said, I wouldn’t believe it. “As soon as Brandi got that text, I knew he was gone. I wanted to check to see if I received any messages from people, and before I could roll over in my bed and get my phone from the night stand, ‘Trenchtown Rock’ began playing. My phone was just sitting there on the table plugged into the charger, and Pandora came on and the song started playing.”

There was no explanation. A minute after his friend was pronounced dead, the song they both loved played. “It was really weird. I felt these chills throughout my whole body. That was Tyrice.”

*          *          *

There was a huge showing at the funeral service for Tyrice Thompson. Lots of people stepped to the front of the church to say some words about Tyrice including notable Sun Devil Football alumni, Preston Jones and Randy Hill.

“With all of these big football players and adults at the service, there was this little boy with glasses that walked up to the front of the church,” Brandi explained. “He said he didn’t know Tyrice but that he had saved his life.”

“I guess five years ago, the boy and his family were at a local Mexican restaurant, and Tyrice was there,” Brandi explained. “The boy said he had started choking on his food, and he locked eyes with Tyrice from across the room. He said that Ty ran over to him, pulled him out of his seat and performed a Heimlich maneuver in an instant. Later when the boy and his family left the restaurant, Tyrice signed an autograph for him.”

“This little kid got up in front of all those people because he wanted to tell that story. That quieted the church,” Brandi said. “Ty never said a thing to us about that, and we were really good friends… not even to say something crazy happened that night.”

Not long before they lost Tyrice, Rudy & Brandi announced that they were expecting their first child, a son. Brandi recalled when Tyrice was

Sun Devil #81 and Hometown Hero, Tyrice Thompson

over at their place a week before the incident. “He was our biggest cheerleader as soon as we got pregnant.” Tyrice had his own son, Takai, and was a very good father. “So as soon as he found out about us, he was pretty involved and talked a lot about what it’s like to have a child,” she said.

“We were talking about possible middle names for our son,” Brandi said. “Ty told us that you don’t just come up with a name, but that the name should come to you as a feeling. He said, ‘You know you have picked the right one, because you will feel it.”

Later on that night before Ty left the house, he bent down to Brandi’s belly, she explained. “Ty was 6’5” and I am 5’4″. He came down to my belly and whispered something to our son. When I asked him what he said, Ty said it was a secret between him and his ‘nephew.'”

“To this day, neither Rudy or I know what was said, but one thing is certain, our son and Tyrice will forever have a personal and private relationship.”

On May 27, 2013, Rudy & Brandi gave birth to their son. They named him Maddox Tyrice Burgess.

Tyrice Thompson on his 27th Birthday at Rudy & Brandi’s Home. Sun Devil for Life.

*   *   *

Note: Now that the busiest time of the football season is over, Rudy & Brandi are scheduled to be married this summer. And since Maddox Tyrice weighed 7 lb.s, 11 oz.s when he was born last year, they’ve set the date of July 11 (7-11).

Brandi, Rudy & Maddox Tyrice

KPTV – FOX 12

Pages: 1 2