Frank Wycheck, former Maryland and NFL tight end, dies at 52 after apparent fall at home
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three-time Pro Bowl tight end Frank Wycheck, a former Maryland star who threw the lateral that started the “Music City Miracle” launching the Tennessee Titans’ run to the franchise’s lone Super Bowl appearance, has died. He was 52.
Wycheck died at his Chattanooga home after an apparent fall where he hit his head Saturday morning, according to a statement from his family released through the Legacy consulting firm. His family said Sunday “with great sadness” that Wycheck was found Saturday afternoon.
His family will be following Wycheck’s wishes to work with experts for CTE research and ongoing brain injury (TBI). Funeral services have not been scheduled yet.
“The Wycheck family appreciates the love and support they’ve received, but asks the public to please respect their privacy during this difficult time,” the family said in the statement.
Wycheck retired after his 11th NFL season. He got two concussions in a month in 2003, missed six games, then finished the season with an AFC divisional loss in New England. He decided to retire despite still being under contract and wanting a Super Bowl ring.
He later said in a 2017 television interview that he believed he had CTE, the degenerative brain disease believed to cause debilitating memory and mood problems. He told Nashville’s Fox-WZTV that he suffers from migraine headaches and depression, is sensitive to light and is disinclined to socialize.
“The physical stuff you can’t hide from,” Wycheck told The Associated Press in 2014. “If you have lingering effects and you go back into a game, from all my reading and studying on it … it could prove to be fatal.”
Wycheck, who played football from age 5 until retiring at 33, estimated that he had been involved in 297,000 collisions in his career, 25 of which resulted in concussions. He was among the former players who sued the NFL over complaints that it hid the risks of repeated concussions.
The “Music City Miracle” came with 16 seconds left in an AFC wild-card game on Jan. 8, 2000. That touchdown return ranked fourth among the NFL’s greatest plays when the league celebrated its first 100 years in 2019.
Lorenzo Neal caught a kickoff and handed off to Wycheck, and he threw the ball across the field to Kevin Dyson, who sped 75 yards for the winning touchdown in the final seconds of a stunning 22-16 comeback victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Buffalo fans still insist the throw was a forward pass. Wycheck told The Associated Press in 2019 that he never had a doubt his pass was a lateral.
“Just flick it back,” Wycheck said. “That’s just the way I kind of jumped and threw it. And then I fell backward, and that was like the illusion of it.”
Tennessee then won on the road in Indianapolis and beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville in the AFC championship game. The Titans came up short on the final play in losing Super Bowl 34 to the then-St. Louis Rams in Atlanta.
A Philadelphia native, Wycheck finished with 1,183 receiving yards and 1,574 rushing yards in three seasons at Maryland. He left College Park a year early, before first-year coach Mark Duffner arrived and installed his run-and-shoot offense, and was picked in the sixth round of the 1993 NFL draft by Washington.
“I have no regrets toward Coach Duffner and the Maryland program,” he said after being drafted. “I had to leave a great program that was on the rise. It was a matter of circumstances. That’s the way the system was, and I had to grin and bear it. I was going from playing 80 plays a game to being cut drastically to 10 or 15. Anyone who goes from playing and being in the spotlight for two years and [then] not playing at all, it’s tough. But I didn’t complain. I didn’t want to take anything away from the team.”
He was picked up off waivers by the then-Houston Oilers in 1995 and finished his career with the franchise that relocated to Tennessee in 1997.
He finished his career with 505 receptions, 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns over 155 games. At that time, he trailed only Shannon Sharpe (815), Ozzie Newsome (662) and Kellen Winslow (541) for most catches among tight ends.
Wycheck played 137 games for the Titans and set a team record with at least one reception in 99 consecutive games. He also led the franchise in receiving for three straight seasons between 1999 and 2001.
The lateral for the “Music City Miracle” wasn’t his only throw. Wycheck was 5 of 6 for 148 yards and two touchdowns in his career, posting a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
Wycheck moved to Chattanooga this summer to be closer to his family. He leaves behind two adult daughters and three grandchildren.
Baltimore Sun staff contributed to this article.