IRVING, TEXAS (AP) - Green Bay Packers defensive end Cullen Jenkins was worried about his father after not hearing from him for more than a month.
Police told The Associated Press on Thursday night that his dad is just fine in Hawaii.
A spokeswoman for the Honolulu Police Department, Michelle Yu, said that officers contacted Darome Jenkins _ performing a “welfare check” _ following media reports and inquiries about his whereabouts.
Jenkins’ older brother, Kris _ a defensive tackle for the New York Jets _ told the AP in an e-mail that his father contacted Cullen Jenkins on Thursday after seeing some of the reports.
“Our family has endured some very hard times, but we are strong and we will find a way to get through this as well,” Kris Jenkins said in the e-mail.
Cullen Jenkins is in Dallas preparing for the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and mentioned that he hadn’t heard from his father since around Christmas. He also said he was leaving a ticket for his dad at Cowboys Stadium in case he showed up for Sunday’s game.
“That’s the thing that makes it difficult, because you really don’t know,” Cullen Jenkins said a few hours before hearing from his father. “I don’t know if he’s just being distant right now or has kind of pulled back from everybody, or who knows?”
Jenkins said it was strange not to hear from his father for so long because he and his brother are very close to their father, who raised them as a single dad in Ypsilanti, Mich.
“That’s like the core of our family growing up,” Jenkins said. “It was me, my Dad and my brother.”
Jenkins recalled a conversation he had with his father in December through text messages.
“It wasn’t an incident, but there was a discussion, and it wasn’t a bad discussion by any means,” Jenkins said. “He was talking a little bit about how he was feeling about certain things in the family, and maybe feeling a little left out and things like that. That’s what makes this so difficult, you know, because you just don’t know.”
That’s when all communication stopped between both Jenkins brothers and their father.
“I tried to contact him again,” Cullen Jenkins said, “and his phone was off.”
The 30-year-old Jenkins is in his seventh season with the Packers, and the Super Bowl could be his last game in Green Bay. He is a free agent after this season and insists he’s not thinking about what might happen in the offseason.
“We’ve got a good thing going here right now,” Jenkins said. “I’m just trying to enjoy on this whole thing and not even concentrate on that stuff.”
He missed five games, including the last four of the regular season, with a calf injury before returning to play well in the playoffs.
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Associated Press Writer Jaymes Song in Honolulu and AP Sports Writer Chris Jenkins in Dallas contributed to this report.
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