Mylan Hicks
Former Detroit Renaissance High and Michigan State football player Mylan Hicks was killed in Canada, according to reports.
Hicks, 23, was playing for the Calgary Stampede of the Canadian Football League. He played safety and linebacker for the Spartans from 2010-14.
“This is just tragic,” MSU coach Mark Dantonio said Sunday night. “It’s sort of rocked our Spartan football community.”
Hicks is the second member of MSU’s 2013 Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl team to die this year. Punter Mike Sadler was killed along with Nebraska punter Sam Foltz in an auto accident on July 23 near Waukesha, Wis.
Dantonio said he heard about the shooting from a phone call around 9 a.m. Sunday. He said Hicks “went through everything with a great deal of excitement” in life.
“A very competitive person and just enjoyed playing football and being around our program…,” Dantonio said. “He went 100 miles an hour. No. 6 was a beautiful person. Like Mike Sadler in a lot of ways, he just lit a room up when he walked in.”
CBC News reported that Hicks was shot outside Marquee Beer Market nightclub in Calgary around 2:30 a.m. Calgary Police Insp. Don Coleman said at a news conference that the altercation began in the bar before moving outside where it escalated and ultimately led to Hicks being shot. Global News in Canada reported that there is no word yet on what prompted the shooting or whether Hicks was the intended victim.
Hicks reportedly was taken to Foothills hospital, where he later died from his injuries. Calgary police reportedly have three people of interest in custody, and it is being investigated by the homicide. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.
According to Globe News, Coleman said there were other football players at the bar with Hicks, but it’s unclear whether they were part of the altercation.
“Mylan was a respected young man throughout his collegiate and professional careers,” Brian Ramsey of the CFL Players’ Association told Globe News. “As a member of the Calgary Stampeders, he was just starting to establish himself amongst his teammates, coaches and fans in the city. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mylan’s family, friends, teammates and the Calgary Stampeders organization during this extremely difficult time.”
Stampeders mourn the death of Mylan Hicks → ow.ly/vYBO304xxMe https://t.co/e6b7DHkg7s
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Calgary Stampeders (@calstampeders) September 25, 2016Josh Bell, one of Hicks’ teammates in Calgary, told reporters he was with Hicks at the bar early Sunday morning to celebrate the Stampeders’ Saturday afternoon win over Winnipeg but did not see the shooting. Bell called Hicks “family” and said the team is hurting and shaken by his death.
“I lost my little brother today,” said Bell, who added that he would take Hicks to movies or dinner once a week. “I feel like to a degree I’m a father figure because I’m the old man on the team, so I lost a son today. Just in reflection, it kind of hits you. That could’ve been me last night, and I have a wife and a son and a little one on the way.”
Hicks had 27 tackles in 32 career games for MSU and earned his psychology degree in psychology in August 2014, before his final season. He received the team’s Biggie Munn Award that fall as the Spartans’ most inspirational defensive player and had a career-high four tackles in their 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic win over Baylor.
Darien Harris, one of Hicks’ former teammates and fellow linebackers at MSU, tweeted: “God I know you are all knowing & make no mistakes but please just help us to understand why. RIP to my brother Mylan @AlmightyLO6 #6Forever”
God I know you are all knowing & make no mistakes but please just help us to understand why. RIP to my brother Mylan @AlmightyLO6 #6Forever
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Darien Harris (@DHarris_45) September 25, 2016Hicks had 27 tackles in 32 career games for MSU and earned his psychology degree in psychology in August 2014, before his final season. He received the team’s Biggie Munn Award that fall as the Spartans’ most inspirational defensive player and had a career-high four tackles in their 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic win over Baylor.
A two-year starter for coach Antonio Watts at Renaissance, Hicks had 44 tackles and four interceptions as a senior in the fall of 2009. The 5-foot-11, 199-pound Hicks signed to the Stampeders’ practice squad in May after being released by the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL.
“The loss of this 23-year-old young man at this stage of his life and his career is an unfathomable tragedy,” Ken King, president and CEO of the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, said in the release. “Our sympathies to Mylan’s family and to the Stampeders family of players, coaches and staff.”
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Several former Michigan State coaches and teammates tweeted after learning of Hicks’ death.
Rest peacefully to my brother @AlmightyLO6....watch over me bro. This hard for me right now man 😓
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Lawrence Thomas (@LawrenceLThomas) September 25, 2016I'm sick man...smh. RIP #6, we'll all miss you brotha @AlmightyLO6 😞
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Matt Macksood (@MattMacksood) September 25, 2016Sick of losing brothers 😔... love you big dawg @AlmightyLO6 #RIP6
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Christopher Laneaux (@C_Laneaux14) September 25, 2016Always tried to get @AlmightyLO6 to smile by calling him Smilin Mylan. No doubt he's above smiling down on us… twitter.com/i/web/status/7…
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Mike Vorkapich (@CoachVork) September 25, 2016Another Spartan Dawg gone way too soon man 😞 #RIP6 @AlmightyLO6
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Tyriq Thompson (@TyriqThompson17) September 25, 2016