By mid-December 2005, the Indianapolis Colts were the best team in football. They had started 13-0, and Tony Dungy, the soft-spoken head coach, was on the verge of a masterpiece season. Then, days after the team’s first loss, he lost something no record could measure.

Dungy’s 18-year-old son, James, passed away on December 22, 2005. More than two decades later, the former NFL head coach has opened up about how he tackled and overcame that particular moment.

“That was a tough one. It really was. It’s something you never expect. You can’t get prepared for it. There’s no blueprint for it,” Dungy said on The Sage Steele Show. “You lose a son who was 18 at the time. Gosh, it was painful. It was hurtful. But we believe the Bible. We believe God’s word.”

Dungy remembered wrestling with the verse Romans 8:28, which speaks of God working all things together for good for those who love him. He and his wife, Lauren, could not fathom how any good could emerge from such tragedy. Ultimately, they found the strength to survive and move forward. Yet, the pain never fully disappeared, as Dungy emphasized.

“I probably talked to 200 dads who have lost kids and been able to tell them that you can make it through and you can fight through,” the 71-year-old coach said. “That’s how we had to look at it. Lord, I’ll never know why and never totally understand, but I do know that if I have faith in you that something good can come out of it.”

As per the reports, James was found unresponsive by his girlfriend at approximately 1:30 a.m. inside his apartment at the Campus Lodge Apartments in Lutz, Florida, a suburb north of Tampa. A responding Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputy performed CPR, and paramedics rushed him to University Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A subsequent report by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner confirmed that Tony Dungy’s son passed away by s*****e. The toxicology reports were entirely negative for drugs and alcohol, showing only trace amounts of caffeine and the emergency medications used by paramedics during resuscitation attempts.

Tony Dungy has spoken extensively and written in his memoir, Quiet Strength, about how his Christian faith sustained his family through their unimaginable grief. As Dungy delivered the eulogy at his son’s memorial service, he shared the message of hope, love, and faith rather than anger.

Apart from James, Tony Dungy and his wife are parents to ten children, of whom two are biological and eight are adopted.

Despite this tragedy, Dungy made a quick return to coaching following his son’s death. Just a couple of days after the funeral in Tampa on Tuesday, Dungy flew back to Indianapolis to join his team and led the practice on Thursday, December 29.

Just days later, on January 1, 2006, he was commanding the sidelines for the regular-season finale against the Arizona Cardinals. After three more full seasons, Dungy eventually stepped away from coaching. Dungy didn’t continue his career for long.

He officially retired on January 12, 2009, at the age of 53, to spend more time with his family and focus on his community and faith-based ministry work.