{"id":19379,"date":"2013-04-23T11:47:33","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T09:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/ex-natal-rugby-player-dies-after-brawl-in-us\/"},"modified":"2013-04-23T11:47:33","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T09:47:33","slug":"ex-natal-rugby-player-dies-after-brawl-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/ex-natal-rugby-player-dies-after-brawl-in-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Natal rugby player dies after brawl in US"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        \t                                <!-- Main Editorial Image --><br \/>\n                    \t\t\t      \t\t\t                                      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/ae5ad_1663953067.jpg\" alt=\"IOL hospital bed\" title=\"\" class=\"pics\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"captions_credit_article\">sxc.hu<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">File photo<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">\n<p class=\"related_articles\">Related Stories<\/p>\n<ul class=\"menu_tab_lists_related\">\n<li><a class=\"related_articles\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iol.co.za:80\/news\/crime-courts\/ex-natal-rugby-star-injured-in-brawl-1.1504151\">Ex-Natal rugby star injured in brawl<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--PSTYLE=WT Web Text--><\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Durban &#8211; The family of Graham Downes say they were devastated at the \u201csudden, tragic\u201d death of the Durban-born architect and former Natal rugby player.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Downes lived and worked in the US, but had planned on coming to South Africa in June for his 40th school reunion, his nephew Michael Downes said on Monday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">The 55-year-old died in a San Diego hospital on Sunday afternoon. He had suffered \u201cmajor head and facial injuries\u201d in a fight with 31-year-old employee Higinio Salgado &#8211; at a party at Downes\u2019s home &#8211; early on Friday, weekend reports said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">The man was arrested and Downes taken to hospital. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">But exactly what happened while Downes was in hospital was still unclear on Monday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Michael said the family had been \u201coverwhelmed with love and support\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201c(We) ask everyone to remember Basher (Downes\u2019s nickname) as the legend he was,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cHe was an exciting and adventurous man who did no less than devour life,\u201d said his publicist, Danielle Gano. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cThere were no half-measures in his world,\u201d she added, \u201cThose who knew him socially surely have a memorable story to tell in which he is invariably at the centre.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">He was the second of four boys and attended Durban High School, and then went on to the University of Natal, where he studied architecture.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Known as \u201cthe Basher\u201d when he played prop for the provincial rugby side in the 1980s, he emigrated to the US in 1986. He played for the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club and represented the country\u2019s national side, the Eagles, in the 1987 Rugby World Cup. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">He founded Graham Downes Architecture in San Diego in 1994 and, Gano said, was \u201crevered for his work in revitalising neglected urban areas\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cHe created his architecture firm on a credit card and then grew it into one of San Diego\u2019s most respected and sought-after design firms,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cDownes\u2019s capacity for work and the intensity he brought to the office and the sports field are legendary, but it is for his vision, talent, generosity and humanity that he will be remembered.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Pete Smith, chief executive of the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union, offered his condolences to friends and family. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\"><strong>The Mercury<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>sxc.hu File photo Related Stories Ex-Natal rugby star injured in brawl Durban &#8211; The family of Graham Downes say they were devastated at the \u201csudden, tragic\u201d death of the Durban-born architect and former Natal rugby player. Downes lived and worked in the US, but had planned on coming to South Africa in June for his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-19379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}