Former Wisconsin TE Jack Pugh died from acute bronchopneumonia, coroner's report says

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Former Wisconsin tight end Jack Pugh’s death resulted from acute bronchopneumonia, a type of pneumonia, according to a coroner’s report.

The Franklin County (Ohio) Coroner’s Office said the 24-year-old Pugh, who died March 30, had this lung infection due to cardiomyopathy with hepatosplenomegaly. Cardiomyopathy is a disease that reduces the heart’s ability to pump blood. Hepatosplenomegaly is the result of an enlarged liver and spleen.

People magazine on Tuesday was first to report the coroner’s report on Pugh’s death.

Pugh who was from Columbus, Ohio, redshirted in 2021 before appearing in one game for Wisconsin and earning academic All-Big Ten honors in 2022. He announced in an Instagram post in December 2023 that he had decided before that season to medically retire from the game of football.

“My physical health was not near perfect, but my mental health was the reason I decided to hang it up,” Pugh said in that Instagram post. “Over years of prolonged depression and substance abuse, I decided I deserved a better life and to finally find happiness. In no way was football the root of these problems, but everything in my life had distracted me for so long to the point I never had prioritized my mental health all along, digging a deeper darker hole.”

After Pugh died, Wisconsin’s football program said in a social media post that “Jack was a positive light and brought a genuine spirit to our football program. More than that, he cared about people and was loved by his teammates and staff.”

Pugh had earned his degree from Wisconsin last year.

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