Andy Irons - Death

Death

Irons died on November 2, 2010. He was found lying in bed on his back with the sheets pulled up to his chin, by two hotel staff after he had failed to respond to knock on the door and they went in to investigate.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office concludes that Irons died from a cardiac arrest due to a severe blockage of a main artery of the heart. The official autopsy report lists also a second cause of death as “acute mixed drug ingestion”, listing alprazolam, methadone, benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine) and traces of methamphetamine as the drugs found in Andy`s body at the time of his death. Initial press releases cited Dengue fever as the cause of Irons' death; however, the autopsy report conducted by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office were negative for Dengue and other flavivirus. It is unclear why rumors that Dengue fever contributed to Irons' death proliferated.

In response to Irons' death, a World Championship Tour event in Puerto Rico was postponed for two days with competitors holding a "paddle out" memorial service for Irons. Irons had withdrawn from the event citing ill health and was flying back to his home in Hawaii before dying during a stopover in Grapevine, Texas, near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He had reportedly stopped in Miami after leaving Puerto Rico and early reports said he was put on a saline drip. He was reported to have been vomiting on the Hawaii bound plane before being removed prior to take-off. In the days immediately following his death it was reported that, in Dallas, an extremely ill Irons had attempted to board his connecting flight to Honolulu at 11:30 a.m. but was turned away at an American Airlines gate—a claim the company denies.

A memorial service was held November 14, 2010 in Hanalei Bay, Kauai. His wife Lyndie and brother Bruce, scattered his ashes outside Hanalei Bay where thousands of family, friends and admirers said their last goodbyes.

Rival surfer and friend Kelly Slater dedicated his November 6, 2010 victory to Irons. "I just want to send my condolences to Andy's family," Slater said. "I'm a little overwhelmed right now but I want to dedicate this to Andy... It's like exact opposites. This doesn't really offset that, I'd give this title away in a second if Andy could come back."