Andy Irons cuts a clean line in the face of a Jefferys Bay wave, South Africa.
Thanks to our friends at surfline:
Kelly Slater, longtime rival and friend, remembers AI:
“Andy was an absolutely gifted individual. I’m lucky to have known him and had the times we had together. I feel blessed that we worked through the differences we had and I was able to learn what I’m made of because of Andy. We enjoyed many quiet times together with our girls in the last year and I got to know a happy, funny, innocent kid who was happy to live every second with the people he loved. I’m so sad. My thoughts are with Bruce and Lyndie and their parents and all of his many friends around the world. It’s a huge and far too premature loss for all of us. He was the most intense competitor I’ve ever known and one of the most sensitive people. He had so much life left in him and it hurts to think about. We look forward to his memory living on with our memories of him and his child on the way. There are a lot of uncles awaiting his arrival. I really miss Andy. He had a really good heart. With love, Kelly”
UPDATE: 4/11/2010
SMH REPORTS:
Anti-anxiety and sleeping drugs – but no methadone – were found in a Texas hotel room where pro durfer Andy Irons, celebrity news website TMZ.com reports.
The three-time ASP world title winner’s final meal, eaten alone in an airport hotel room, was a few cans of soft drink and a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup candy bar.
He had checked in to the Grand Hyatt at Dallas Fort Worth Airport in Texas at 9am on Monday.
Almost 24 hours later, he was found dead, lying on his back with the bed sheet “pulled up to his neck”, with his back pack, iPod and a few pieces of clothing dotted around the room.
Two bottles of prescription medication, the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam and a powerful sleeping drug called zolpidem, issued to Irons on October 26, sat on a bedside table, with an empty bottle of water on the floor in front of it.
These details of the Hawaiian legend’s final day are contained in a report prepared by Dallas Fort Worth Airport Police – the first authorities on the scene – and leaked to TMZ.com.
The report makes no mention of methadone being in one of the vials of medication. The Honolulu Star Advertiser, a local Hawaiian newspaper, yesterday reported that the medical examiner’s office in Dallas had found a quantity of the highly-addictive drug in a bottle marked zolpidem.
Overnight the chief investigator at the medical examiner’s office, Michael Floyd, denied leaking the information and told a Dallas newspaper: “We don’t have any results to show that there’s any methadone [in Irons’s system] or not.”
The office also said there was no sign that foul play or trauma had played a role in Irons’s death.
UPDATE: 3/11/2010
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser FALSELY reported…
The death of three-time world surfing champion Andy Irons was being investigated as a possible methadone overdose.
Local officials said the cause of death was not immediately known, but The Star-Advertiser reported it was a being investigated as a possible overdose, citing information provided by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The examiner’s office said a container of the prescription drug zolpidem was found on the nightstand in Irons’ hotel room and that methadone was found inside it. Zolpidem is commonly used for insomnia. A number of other drugs also reportedly were found on the nightstand.
An autopsy was set to take place Wednesday, but the exact cause of death would not be known for 60 to 90 days if a toxicology test is required
TERRIBLE NEWS:
32-year-old three-time surfing world champion Andy Irons has reportedly died on his way home to Hawaii from the Rip Curl Search Pro event in Puerto Rico.
Andy missed both his heats at the event due to illness over the weekend.
Andy was on his way home to Hawaii after suffering a bout of dengue fever in Puerto and was too ill to board a connecting flight from Texas to Hawaii.
He’d spent two days on an IV drip in Miami, Florida, but was determined to get back to Hawaii, where his own doctor, plus his heavily pregnant wife Lyndie, waited.
Unable to make the flight to Hawaii he checked into the Grand Hyatt hotel near the Dallas Fort Worth Airport.
Hotel staff found Irons dead early the next morning.
He was pronounced dead at 9.46am local time.
Andy had returned to the Tour this year after taking one year off to recover from burn out and loss of drive. The break did him wonders and his personality bounced back and his surfing was on the improve – especially in his preferred waves of consequence. Stand out performances free surfing in Indonesia and his massive win in the Billabong Pro Tahiti in August.
Andy is the first of all ASP world champion surfers to pass away.
Irons clinched 19 world tour victories and was crowned world champion three times, in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
He had blossomed into a champion person, loving husband to wife Lyndie and soon to be father.
Tracks offers its sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Andy Irons, RIP.
A.I standing tall and Adonises like in the eye of a Teaupoo barrel.
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM BILLABONG:
HONOLULU – (November 2, 2010) — The world of surfing mourns an incredibly sad loss today with the news that Hawaii’s Andy Irons has died. Andy was a beloved husband, and a true champion. Irons, 32, withdrew from a professional surfing event in Puerto Rico last weekend due to illness and passed away during a layover en-route to his home in Kauai, Hawaii. He had reportedly been battling with dengue fever, a viral disease.
At this time the family thanks his friends and fans for their support, and asks that the community respect its privacy. The family also asks to not be contacted so their focus can remain on one another during this time of profound loss.
