Nick Mangold, Ohio State, New York Jets heart, dies of kidney illness

The Big Man is gone. Tragically.

Nick Mangold was lots of issues – sensible, robust, humorous, welcoming – however principally the previous Ohio State heart was the chief of the Buckeyes, in addition to the New York Jets and just about anybody else who entered his orbit.

Mangold, who died Oct. 26 from issues associated to kidney illness, wasn’t only a heart. He was the heart. Of all of it. Everything concerning the Ohio State offense, and in some ways even the protection, revolved round him. He was the brilliant solar within the Buckeyes’ photo voltaic system. 

“It stinks,” stated former Ohio State linebacker Bobby Carpenter, who joined Mangold within the class of 2002. “We had such a great class, and Nick was the centerpiece of that. Everybody loved Nick. He was the fun guy. The big guy. The smart guy. He had it all.”

Had. 

The finish got here too quickly. Way too quickly. Mangold was 41. The Centerville, Ohio, native had a lifetime forward of him. Had a spouse, Jenny, and 4 youngsters, Matthew, Eloise, Thomas and Charlotte. But he additionally had kidney illness, which he saved non-public, even from a few of his closest buddies. Until lastly, on Oct. 14, Mangold introduced on social media that he had been recognized in 2006 with a uncommon genetic dysfunction and since summer time had been present process kidney dialysis. He was searching for a donor with kind O blood, since none of his kin match that kind. 

Kidney illness didn’t seem to require emergency assist for Nick Mangold

The electronic mail was no determined plea geared toward saving a life in speedy deadly hazard, based on Carpenter.

“To everybody’s knowledge in Ohio, his prospects were very much the opposite, that it was not a dire emergency situation,” stated Carpenter, who final talked to Mangold Oct. 22. “We talked about him coming on my (podcast) show next week. This was very unexpected. We had no idea. He didn’t get on dialysis until this summer. It was not something that had been going on for a while, where he needed dialysis.” 

Carpenter, who stood in Mangold’s wedding ceremony, and vice versa, stated his buddy was in “a good spot.”

“He was very optimistic,” he said. “Nick knew people wanted to do stuff for him, and he was up for all that.”

Carpenter is hurting, his grief blended with shock. There was no time to organize, not that planning essentially reduces the ache. 

“A.J.’s wife (Laura) called my wife (Cortney) while we were walking out of church,” Carpenter stated, preventing again tears. 

A.J. Hawk lived with Mangold for 4 years at Ohio State, the place the 2 linebackers buddied round with Carpenter and fellow linebacker Anthony Schlegel. The foursome had been well-known for rising their hair to their shoulders, a glance they carried into the NFL – Mangold and Schlegel with the New York Jets, Carpenter with Dallas and Hawk with Green Bay. 

But it principally was Mangold who leveraged his flowing mane and shaggy beard right into a fan-favorite New York trend assertion, his blond hair falling from a baseball cap turned backward. 

“He had a big personality,” Carpenter stated. “He was the guy that you may not talk to for a year and a half, but (the next time) you’d see him it was like hopping on a moving train.”

Mangold, a 12 months faraway from enjoying highschool soccer at Kettering Alter, performed in eight video games as an OSU freshman, together with beginning the BCS nationwide championship recreation towards Miami.

“Looking back now, starting at center as a true freshman is crazy,” Carpenter stated. “But that was him. The smartest guy I knew, with a calm, big personality. He was a man’s man, or however you want to call it. He was Everyman, someone you could just relate to.”

Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who now serves as Ohio lieutenant governor, praised Mangold as being the most effective of individuals.

“Nick Mangold was everything you could wish for as a teammate, player, son, friend, husband, father and American,” Tressel texted. “Loyal, hard-working, selfless, caring, and loving. Our hearts go out to the entire Mangold-Buckeye-Jet families. Love that man. We lost a great one.”

Nick Mangold was iron man at heart of line

Mangold, who lived in New Jersey, was particular, on the sector and off. On it, he turned an Ohio State All-American who was a Jets first-round draft choose in 2006. In New York, he made seven Pro Bowls and twice was named a first-team All-Pro. He entered the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023, a 12 months after the Jets inducted him into the group’s Ring of Honor. 

How robust was Mangold? He performed 5 consecutive NFL seasons earlier than lacking a recreation, and missed solely 4 in his first 10 seasons – beginning 164 of 176 video games – earlier than retiring with a foot harm in 2016. 

“You think you’ll get a chance to go to a bunch of reunions together, and celebrate a bunch of things together,” Carpenter stated, voice trailing off.

And then the solar, the middle of all of it, stops shining. 

Sports columnist Rob Oller will be reached at curler@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.