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Tyji Armstrong, a mother’s love, and the meaning of sports

As a sellout crowd at Soldier Field cheered the Bears against the Buccaneers on September 26, 1993, one seat in the northeast corner remained empty. A ticket was purchased for section 26, row 19, seat 38, but no one sat there. The seat was draped only with a wreath of Bird of Paradise flowers.

The display was in memory of Annie Armstrong, the 51-year-old mother of Buccaneers tight end Tyji Armstrong, who had suffered a fatal heart attack there one year earlier, October 18, 1992, and died later that day. She was in town from Michigan with family to watch her son.