My heart is broken today.
Hearts are broken all over Austin and beyond.
Anyone who knew Sean Adams knew his passion for helping people find a greater meaning in their lives, whether it was tying a life lesson to a football game, a win or a loss - Sean was all about "teachable moments."
We did a three-hour sports talk show every weekday morning, but it was really a show about sports and life.
Sean was a proud alumnus of Abilene Christian University and earned a master's degree in business administration. He worked in Washington, D.C., in the attorney general's office and worked in the corporate world, including Dell, for years.
But Sean had an undying love for sports and walked away from corporate world to pursue that love. He worked as a personal trainer for former Texas Longhorns' stars Michael and Marcus Griffin and former Texas Tech QB Steven Sheffield.
He got on as writer/analyst at Orangebloods.com and then expanded from there, getting into radio (with me and a third co-host named David Anderson) at 1530 ESPN Radio in 2005.
Sean's media presence grew to include the Longhorn Network and working sidelines for ESPN. He spoke on college campuses across the country, telling student-athletes to "get more out of their scholarship educations than dates with hot girls and free Nike gear."
Sean recently spoke to the entire faculty of Round Rock ISD at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park and talked about how proud he was to do that, because his two children - son Damon and daughter Alex, the loves of his life - are both students at Round Rock High.
Sean did a commentary every morning at 7:30 am called "The Adams' Theory." So many of those theories were tied to moments and life lessons involving Damon and Alex.
I told Damon and Alex Thursday night in their home as they were processing the devastation of losing their father how much Austin loves them and cares about them, because of how much Sean included them in his radio broadcast theories.
He looked out for the children of others, too. When my daughter, Maggie, had open-heart surgery in April 2010, Sean organized a procession of dinners to be delivered to my home by members of his church. My family will never forget that.
Sean and I were preparing to fly to Los Angeles Thursday night for the Texas-USC game when I learned of his apparent heart attack. I was devastated. I raced to the hospital and refused to believe he was gone. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Sean lost his dad to a stroke, and I lost my mom to pancreatic cancer. We talked about our love for our lost parents a lot.
I can hear Sean telling me - right now! - how important it is to reach out to loved ones all the time to tell them how much you love them and care about them.
"It's not enough to think it, Chip," he would tell me. "Pick up the phone and say it out loud."
I'm saying it out loud right now - and I know you can hear me Sean - "I love you."
Chip