"After I get off the phone with you guys, I'm going to head straight to the hospital and tell her that her son got drafted." Those were the words of Oregon Ducks defensive tackle Derrick Harmon about his sick mother right after he got scooped up by the Pittsburgh Steelers in Thursday night's NFL draft, picked 21st overall in the first round. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on a sad development on Harmon's message on Friday afternoon, per USA Today. Mom Tiffany Saine, "who was on life support, passed away shortly after he went to the hospital," reporter Gerry Dulac posted on X, adding that the 21-year-old was able to tell his mother about being drafted before she died.
Harmon has said that his mom underwent around eight brain surgeries during his childhood and had suffered a stroke while he was playing for Michigan State. Going to Oregon was a difficult choice for that reason, as he'd be further away from his hometown of Detroit. "It was probably the hardest decision I had to make," Harmon recently told ESPN. "I sat down with my mom, and we had a discussion. She told me every decision I made up to this point was for her, and it's time to make a decision for myself."
"She's the reason why I'm here," he said of his "bittersweet" football success. "She's the one that did everything for me to get to this point." He adds, per the AP: "After all those brain surgeries, man, she did not give up. She still went to practice, still went to work." The Steelers offered Harmon their "deepest condolences" upon hearing the news. "Though we are excited to select Derrick in the first round of the NFL Draft, our hearts are heavy as we mourn the death of his mother," Steelers President Art Rooney II said in a statement. "We will support Derrick and his family however we can as he navigates this period of grief." (More NFL draft stories.)
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