Widow honors late NFL player by championing heat-stroke safety initiatives

Twenty-five years after Korey Stringer's death from exertional heat stroke, his widow Kelci Stringer continues to promote heat-safety programs through the Korey Stringer Institute.

Kelci Stringer still vividly remembers the frantic drive to the hospital when her husband Korey succumbed to exertional heat stroke during the Vikings' 2001 training camp, finding teammates in tears. Since then, she has made it her mission to avert such preventable deaths, working closely with the Korey Stringer Institute, which opened in 2010 with funding from the wrongful-death settlement. Under CEO Douglas Casa, a kinesiology professor who survived a race collapse at age 16, the institute has grown to roughly 100 employees and added a Florida branch, influencing 463 heat-safety statutes across all states.

The institute's board includes NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Miller, and Casa serves on the league's medical committee. This Saturday, the Vikings will honor the 25-year mark with Kelci speaking at a ceremony and the institute displaying its safety work to athletes, laborers, and military personnel.