Dick Rehbein was a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 coach

Coach (sport)

In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...

 in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

.

Playing career

Rehbein attended Ripon College

Ripon College (Wisconsin)

Ripon College is a liberal arts college in Ripon, Wisconsin, USA. It offers small class sizes and intensive mentoring to students. Ripon has a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa--one of the nation's most prestigious honor societies. Alumni have high rates of success in the workforce as well as acceptance...

, where he was a Division II All-America

All-America

An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

n center

Center (American football)

Center is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...

. He was part of the Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

' 1977

1977 NFL season

The 1977 NFL season was the 58th regular season of the National Football League. The Seattle Seahawks were placed in the AFC West while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were slotted in the NFC Central....

 training camp but did not make their final roster.

Coaching career

Starting in 1979

1979 NFL season

The 1979 NFL season was the 60th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XIV when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams...

, Rehbein served as the Packers' special teams coach before moving to the USFL

United States Football League

The United States Football League was an American football league which was in active operation from 1983 to 1987. It played a spring/summer schedule in its first three seasons and a traditional autumn/winter schedule was set to commence before league operations ceased.The USFL was conceived in...

's Los Angeles Express and then the NFL's Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...

 in 1984

1984 NFL season

The 1984 NFL season was the 65th regular season of the National Football League. The Colts relocated from Baltimore, Maryland to Indianapolis, Indiana....

. In Minnesota, Rehbein served in multiple offensive coaching capacities and in 1992

1992 NFL season

The 1992 NFL season was the 73rd regular season of the National Football League.Due to the damage caused by Hurricane Andrew, the New England Patriots–Miami Dolphins game that was scheduled for September 6 at Joe Robbie Stadium was rescheduled to October 18. Both teams originally had that...

, joined the New York Giants

New York Giants

The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

' coaching staff as a tight end

Tight end

The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...

s coach. After also coaching the Giants' wide receiver

Wide receiver

A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...

s and offensive line, Rehbein left the Giants to be the quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

s coach of the New England Patriots

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

 in 2000

2000 New England Patriots season

The 2000 New England Patriots season was the 31st season for the team in the National Football League and 41st season overall. They finished with a 5–11 record and in last place in the division....

.

Death

Given a few days off by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick

Bill Belichick

William Stephen "Bill" Belichick is an American football head coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. After spending his first 15 seasons in the league as an assistant coach, Belichick got his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1991...

 in the middle of his second training camp with the team, Rehbein used the time to exercise at a gym with his 12-year old daughter Sarabeth on August 5, 2001

2001 New England Patriots season

The 2001 New England Patriots season was the 32nd season for the team in the National Football League and 42nd season overall. They finished with an 11–5 record and a division title before advancing to and winning Super Bowl XXXVI....

. While running on a treadmill

Treadmill

A treadmill is an exercise machine for running or walking while staying in one place. The word treadmill traditionally refers to a type of mill which was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a wheel to grind grain...

, Rehbein blacked out but regained consciousness enough to enter an ambulance

Ambulance

An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...

 under his own power. He was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital

Massachusetts General Hospital

Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...

 in Boston Massachusetts, where tests later that day concluded his loss of consciousness was due to a heart condition he had been diagnosed with in 1988, cardiomyopathy

Cardiomyopathy

Cardiomyopathy, which literally means "heart muscle disease," is the deterioration of the function of the myocardium for any reason. People with cardiomyopathy are often at risk of arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death or both. Cardiomyopathy can often go undetected, making it especially dangerous to...

. That night, Rehbein contacted then-Patriots offensive coordinator

Offensive coordinator

An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of a gridiron football team who is in charge of the offense. Generally, along with his defensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...

 Charlie Weis

Charlie Weis

Charles Joseph "Charlie" Weis is an American football coach. He currently serves as offensive coordinator for the Florida Gators. For five years, from December 2004 through 2009, he was the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame...

 and told him he would be back with the Patriots in time for their 7 PM EDT coaches meeting the next day.

On the following morning, August 6, Rehbein underwent a stress test

Cardiac stress test

Cardiac stress test is a test used in medicine and cardiology to measure the heart's ability to respond to external stress in a controlled clinical environment....

on his heart. During the recovery period directly following the test, Rehbein lost consciousness again but did not regain it as he had the day before. He was declared dead shortly thereafter, with cardiomyopathy declared his cause of death.