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SALT LAKE CITY - Colorado Rockies President Keli S. McGregor was found dead in a hotel room at the Grand America Hotel Tuesday morning.
McGregor, 48, was found unresponsive about 9 a.m. after business associates called hotel staff to check on him.
"We responded along with fire and EMS personnel," said Salt Lake City police Detective Rick Wall. "And they found the individual unconscious. They were unable to revive him."
Our thoughts, our prayers are with Lori and the entire family as we all try to cope and understand how such a tragic loss could occur with such a wonderful man.
–Charlie Monfort, Colorado Rockies chairman and CEO
Friends of McGregor said he came to Salt Lake every year to promote the Colorado Rockies. People who were with him Monday night say his sudden death is a shock.
"It is a tragedy that words cannon express one's sorrow," said Tom Love, president of Love Communications.
Love dropped McGregor and other Rockies management team members off at the Grand America Hotel around at 9:00 Monday night.
Before that, McGregor had attended an invitation-only event at Love Communications in Salt Lake. The company does community and media relations for the team in Utah.
Love said McGregor came to Salt Lake every year, for the past four years, to try to build the team's fan base.
"[He was] an incredibly charming, talented human being that was a leader, and it was a wonderful night and a wonderful time and unbelievable unfortunate turn of events," Love said.
Love said McGregor arrived in Salt Lake Monday morning and was planning to fly back to Colorado Tuesday.
According to Salt Lake police, there's no evidence of foul play and it appears McGregor died of natural causes.
"My understanding is that the initial investigators that were there didn't see anything to warrant any type of suspicious activity or signs of foul play. They didn't see anything like that," Wall said.
The investigation has now been turned over to the State Medical Examiner's Office.
Meanwhile, the Rockies team chairman and CEO Charlie Monfort and executive vice president Greg Feasel were also in Salt Lake with McGregor.
In a statement Monday, Monfort said: "Words cannot describe the level of shock and disbelief that we all are feeling this morning at the loss of Keli. Our thoughts, our prayers are with Lori and the entire family as we all try to cope and understand how such a tragic loss could occur with such a wonderful man."
McGregor was a two-time All-American tight end at Colorado State. He was drafted by the Broncos in the fourth round of the 1985 NFL draft. He played for the Denver, Indianapolis and Seattle before retiring.
McGregor was named president of the Rockies on Oct. 18, 2001.
He was born in Primgahr, Iowa. McGregor and his wife, Lori, have four children.
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Story compiled with contributions from Marc Giauque and Sandra Yi.
