Gronk Opens Up About His Family’s Tragic History Of Dying In Corn Mazes

With autumn in full swing, former tight end Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski opened up on Sunday about his family history of dying in corn mazes, detailing a phenomenon that has claimed the life of one family member every generation since the Revolutionary War.

“It’s very hard for me to talk about this,” Gronkowski said from his ‘Party Pad’ in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, “but every 15 years or so, an uncle or — thought it was my brother last year — dies while trying to get out of a corn maze.” After some thought, Gronkowski concluded that it might be the same corn maze. 

“I know this is how I’ll die,” he said.

Gronkowski says he wants to devote serious time to cracking his family’s “cruel corn cycle” — and soon. “I’ve been spending a lot of time at the New York Public Library,” said the formidable player, who holds the record for most touchdowns by a tight end. “Mainly I’ve been researching how not to die in a maze, corn or otherwise. A lot of articles say it’s unlikely.”

But Gronk isn’t taking any chances. “Last week, I was flying to Arizona to catch a football in a helicopter for my alma mater and had an emergency layover in Kansas City. This is it, I thought, I’m about to die in a corn maze,” Gronkowski said with bated breath. “I refused to deplane. And luckily law enforcement stayed with me the whole time I was in Kansas City, monitoring my every move. They even suggested that without them I might never come back. Thank God for them.”

Why open up now? Gronkowsi credits the impetus to the recent death of his uncle Eddie Gronk, who was traveling to Italy and died in a corn maze in Vatican City.