LaDainian Tomlinson's

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WACO, Texas -- The father of San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson was killed Friday when the pickup truck in which he was riding flipped on a highway, authorities said.

 

Oliver Tomlinson, 71, was killed in the 1:30 p.m. one-vehicle rollover, said Charlie Morgan, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman.

 

The pickup's driver, Ronald C. McClain was taken by ambulance to Waco's Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, where he later died, Morgan said. The 48-year-old McClain was Tomlinson's brother-in-law, authorities said.

 

The Department of Public Safety said that according to the accident report, McClain veered off the roadway and overcorrected, sending the car across the highway and into a ditch. The report does not mention a blown tire as initial accounts of the accident suggested. Both men were thrown from the truck, Morgan said.

 

LaDainian Tomlinson was returning to Texas after being notified about the accident and his father's death, Morgan said.

 

Jewel Tomlinson, Oliver's wife and LaDainian's stepmother, said her husband and McClain had been returning to Waco after a trip to the family home in Tomlinson Hill, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported in its online edition Friday. She said Oliver, who lived in Chilton, had been staying in Waco recently while recovering from an illness.

 

LaDainian Tomlinson, who won the NFL's MVP award last season, played football at Waco's University High School before going on to star at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.