Gavin Escobar: Former Dallas Cowboys player among two killed in California rock climbing accident

Former NFL star had started working at fire department in February

Gavin Escobar, a former NFL tight end, has died in a rock climbing accident in Southern California.

The 31-year-old was one of two people killed on Wednesday in an accident near Idyllwild, officials said on Thursday. The other individual was identified as Chelsea Walsh, 33.

Both Escobar and Walsh were found deceased at the scene at Tahquitz Rock, near Idyllwild, after the the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department said it responded to a distress call on Wednesday lunchtime.

The rock is a 8,846-foot-tall (2,696-metre) granite formation located on the high western side of the San Jacinto mountain range in southern California, and is known for its steep climb.

While a rescue team managed to get into the remote area, the climbers did not survive after a distress call. The department said the pair died of unspecified injuries.

Rain did fall in the area before the accident, the Associated Press reported, but this remains unclear as a cause of the rock climbing deaths – which are not the first at Tahquitz Rock.

In 2000, two climbers from Los Angeles fell to their deaths from the same rock face, according to The Los Angeles Times. 

Escobar rose to fame while playing for the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys, before retiring from professional football in 2019 after a six-year career.

He was hired in February as a Long Beach firefighter. The department said in a tribute: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the off-duty death of Long Beach Firefighter Gavin Escobar.”

The Dallas Cowboys also posted a photo of Escobar with the caption: “Forever in our hearts.”