A player’s heart and legacy live on
Ex-NFLer Konrad Reuland’s sudden death saved a famous life, and inspired his brother’s CFL career
Austin Reuland cried when he was selected by the Ottawa Redblacks in last week’s CFL supplemental draft.
And if you knew the bittersweet story of sudden death and scientific rebirth that brought Reuland to that moment, perhaps you could understand his emotional outpouring.
It was less than a year ago, after all, that Reuland figured he was finished with football. He’d played four years at Yale University, where he spent time as both a receiver and running back until 2015, and he’d enjoyed his gridiron ride. But armed with an Ivy League degree, he had since set his sights on other opportunities, exploring careers in sports media and commercial real estate.
But then came the tragic events around last year’s U.S. Thanksgiving. That’s when Austin’s eldest of two brothers, Konrad, a former NFL player, felt an odd click behind his left eye. Konrad, a six-foot-six, 270-pound mountain of a tight end who played for the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens, suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm from which he never recovered. In the time before Konrad was pronounced dead at age 29, his still-thriving organs were donated to patients in dire need. His right kidney was given to a woman who had spent the previous six years on dialysis. His heart and left kidney, it would later emerge, were transplanted into Rod Carew, the 71-year-old baseball hall of famer who had been relying on a mechanical implant to help pump his blood since suffering a near-fatal heart attack in 2015.
“They found me a 29-year-old heart. You never know — it could be time for a comeback,” Carew quipped to Fox Sports in January.
This week, Austin carried another important part of Konrad from his California home to a practice field in Canada’s capital region. The love of pro football that ran thick in Konrad’s blood appears to have been magically transfused into Austin, who said he’s pursuing a CFL career to honour Konrad’s memory.
“Before Konrad passed, I thought about a different career path. But when he passed, it hit me: he always wanted me to keep playing. And all I ever wanted to do was make him proud,” Austin said in a phone interview. “That’s why, when I got drafted, I broke down crying. I knew Konrad would have been right there next to me as I was getting that call from Ottawa, and we would have spent the whole day celebrating.”
Growing up in southern California, Austin, Konrad and middle brother Warren were an inseparable trio of impressive athletic prowess. Konrad and Warren, born 19 months apart, played football together at Stanford University under coach Jim Harbaugh. But while Austin was nearly six years Konrad’s junior — and, at five foot 11, 201pounds, far smaller — the youngest Reuland brother never felt excluded from the circle.
“Konrad never made me feel like I wasn’t cool enough. He just wanted me around because I was family. And he put family before everything else,” said Austin, now 24.
While all three sons of Ralf and Mary Reuland have accomplished much — Warren is enrolled in medi- cal school at Louisiana State University — Konrad had a rare combination of elite talent and unfailing humility. With his chiselled physique, blond hair and bushy beard, he looked like a character from the TV show Game of Thrones. But he never demanded to be treated like a king. Konrad, who frequently mentored young athletes, often made an hour-plus drive to a San Diego-area hospital to spend time with Kimi, the school-aged, cancer-stricken niece of a family friend with whom he’d happily sing Taylor Swift songs. “When people would ask him why he did it, he always said, ‘She’s what keeps me going,’” Austin said.
In preparing for football, Konrad was the one who often kept his training partners honest.
“There’s a lot of guys, when you’re training, they don’t want to do the last rep or the last set. Konrad was always there to say, ‘Don’t cheat yourself. Everything matters,’” Austin said. “That’s the way he lived. He had an eight-pack. He was always doing things to better himself. . . . He had all his meals measured out so he was getting the right amount of protein. He was incredible.”
In the days after he died, his family searched for reasons to explain his demise. To the family’s knowledge, Konrad was never diagnosed with a brain injury, although Mary Reuland said she doesn’t doubt that, given the reality of a life in football, he could have certainly suffered more than one concussion and kept the symptoms to himself. Still, doctors told the Reulands it’s most likely Konrad was born with the aneurysm — a weak, bulging spot in an artery — and that its rupture was unrelated to the repetitive head trauma endemic to football.
“I’m glad it wasn’t football-related, because then I’d be saying, ‘Austin — you can’t play,’” said Mary. “No, I can’t stop Austin from playing. You’ve got to follow your heart. You’ve got to follow your dreams.”
In the wake of Konrad’s death, both Austin and Warren underwent MRIs to make sure neither brother was harbouring the same internal time bomb that killed Konrad; both tests were negative. Austin also acquired his Canadian citizenship — an easy matter of paperwork since Ralf Reuland was born in Kirkland Lake, Ont. Redblacks general manager Marcel Desjardins said Austin’s status as a non-import prospect made him an attractive pickup who could, once he shakes off the rust of being out of the game for more than a year, help the Redblacks on special teams, at running back or as a receiver.
“I’ve been given a great opportunity in Ottawa,” Austin said. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes, whatever they ask of me.” The Reulands and Carews — Rod and his wife, Rhonda — have become close since they were introduced a few months back. Both families are passionate about the causes of heart health, aneurysm awareness and organ donation, and the Reulands set up a scholarship in Konrad’s name. Protocol usually discourages the families of organ donors from meeting recipients for at least a year after the procedure, and the vast majority never meet at all. But given Carew’s stature as a sporting legend, his transplant made news. The Reulands read stories that detailed how he’d received his organs from a 29-year-old man. And after some investigation, the connection was confirmed.
The coincidences were jarring. As a player Carew wore No. 29, Konrad’s age. The Carews and the Reulands had children who attended the same middle school, where an 11-year-old Konrad once met Rod Carew and returned home to brag about it.
“All Konrad could talk about that day is how he met Rod Carew,” Austin said. “That was really his childhood hero from that point on. Konrad wanted to be a Hall of Fame player, wanted to be a professional athlete. So Rod changed Konrad’s life, in a way. And Konrad saved Rod’s life, in the end.”
When the families met for the first time a few months back, Austin, along with his parents, donned a stethoscope and put it to Carew’s chest to listen to Konrad’s heart beating strongly therein. It was on that day that they learned a fascinating piece of trivia. Carew had lived for more than seven decades without caring for coffee. Suddenly, he told the Reulands, he craves the stuff — served with cream, no sugar, just as Konrad took his.
“There’s no medical explanation I can think of for that. It’s really bizarre,” said Ralf Reuland, a doctor.
Said Mary: “The heart wants what it wants, right? . . . I want to have Rod over for dinner. I want to make him Konrad’s favourite meal and see if his heart remembers that meal.”
On Saturday, before hopping a flight for Ottawa, Austin was treated by his mother to that same meal: roast pork loin with onions and celery accompanied by oven-fried potatoes and brussels sprouts. If the supper made him feel closer to a brother lost too soon, he hopes his Canadian football journey will do the same.
“I call him my badass guardian angel,” Austin said, speaking of Konrad. “I know I’m going to think about him before every play. I know he’s going to be watching over me, and making sure things go the right way for me. I just know he’ll be there to pick me up when I’m down.”