Shortly after the Dallas Cowboys claimed victory over the Atlanta Falcons, a team member who grew up in Monroe, Georgia received devastating news – his brother died of an apparent suicide.
Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett confirmed the news in an interview with FAN 105.3 on Monday.
“We just found out after the ballgame that his brother had committed suicide and just wanted to leave it at that,” Garrett told radio hosts Shan & RJ. “It’s a very personal matter. We are very supportive of Michael and his family, this is going to be a very challenging time for him. Have to take it moment by moment, day by day and give him our support.”
Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones also told reporters the locker room was "somber" after learning the news after Sunday's game.
Garrett told FAN 105.3 he could not confirm if Gallup will be on the field for Thursday’s Cowboys game against the Washington Redskins.
Gallup was a three-star receiver out of Monroe Area High School in Walton County and a #Team11 alum. Gallup started out at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas before becoming a star at Colorado State.
Colorado's head coach, Mike Bobo, offered his condolences to Gallup's family at the start of his weekly press conference.
Sunday’s game against the Falcons was to be a homecoming for the Cowboys rookie. Gallup’s high school coach from Monroe, Matt Fligg, was in the stands to embrace him. Gallup’s mother, Jenny, was not. She is currently traveling home from a month-long mission trip in Africa.
Gallup, the leading receiver on CSU’s football team, is the youngest of eight children, including six that, like him, were adopted, KUSA reported. Two of Gallup’s siblings are from New Delhi, India, and three others were born in West African nations.
Gallup is African American and was born in Atlanta, he told KUSA while he was at Colorado State. He was adopted by the Gallups when he was 10 months old. He said his birth mother was originally from the Cayman Islands, and she gave him up for adoption when his father left and she couldn't take care of him.
Gallup said his adopted mother is a "very special lady" who has had a big impact on his life.
"My mom is a special lady, a very special lady," Gallup told the Coloradan while he was at CSU. "Whenever I make a good play, I look up in the stands where my mom would sit, and say, 'that was for you, mom.' I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her."
