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Former Gopher Nick Connelly dies at age 22 of Burkitt’s lymphoma

Nick Connelly, a Red Wing native, started the first 5 games of the 2017 season before suffering a concussion that forced him give up football. But it was in June of 2018 when Connelly learned he had Burkitt’s lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. On Wednesday evening, Nick Connelly died from Burkitt’s.

Chuck Connelly, Nick’s father posted this announcement to Twitter last night.

Connelly had a promising career going before the concussion ended it, but if only that were the most tragic part of this story. Losing a 22-year old son, brother, teammate, friend is incredibly sad.