What happened to Gabby Logan's brother Daniel Yorath?

Scottish Sun

2 days ago

See what Gabby said in her moving tribute to her little brother
GABBY Logan hails from a well-known Yorkshire family with an array of amazing achievements between them.
But, seemingly out of nowhere, tragedy struck her younger brother Daniel Yorath when the MOTD presenter was just 19 years old.
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Christine Yorath pictured at home with daughters Gabby, 4, and Louise, 3, and son Daniel, 1, in March 1978
Credit: Getty
The Yorath Family
Members of the Yorath family have a number of accomplishments in a variety of fields, with Gabby Logan just one of their many success stories.
The patriarch Terry Yorath is a former Welsh international footballer and manager.
He played as a midfielder for clubs including Leeds United, Coventry and Spurs, and also earned 59 caps for Wales.
After his playing career, Terry managed teams including Swansea and the Welsh national team.
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He was also assistant manager at Bradford City during the 1985 stadium fire and was injured while helping evacuate the ground of supporters.
Christine Yorath, the matriarch of the family, is a successful property developer and interior designer based in Leeds.
Sudden and unexpected
Gabby Logan's younger brother Daniel Yorath tragically died at the age of 15 in 1992.
His death was sudden and completely unexpected, with Gabby paying tribute on the 33rd anniversary of his passing in May 2025.
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Daniel Yorath was having a kick-about in the garden of his Leeds home with his dad Terry — a routine activity for the sporty family — when he suddenly collapsed and died.
Having recently signed for Leeds, Daniel was believed to be exceptionally fit and healthy — there were no prior warning signs and he hadn't previously shown any symptoms of illness or heart problems.
Gabby Logan says Christian Eriksen's collapse 'stirred up memories' of brother Daniel's fatal cardiac arrest at just 15
Cause of death
A post-mortem examination revealed that Daniel died from undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a congenital heart condition.
HCM is a genetic condition, the severity of which can vary greatly, that causes the heart muscle to become abnormally thick, making it harder for the heart to pump blood and greatly increasing the risk of sudden cardiac arrest, especially in young athletes.
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The disease can be asymptomatic and is often only discovered after a sudden death.
In 2022, Gabby told BBC Wales Live: "He was playing football in the garden with my dad and he fell over.
"My dad thought he just was messing about and went over and rolled him over, and he basically died on the spot — and had no previous indications whatsoever that there were any health problems at all with him.
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Gabby's dad Terry was assistant manager at Bradford City when the stadium caught fire in 1985
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'Like a sledgehammer'
"It's like a sledgehammer coming down and sending everybody off in different directions, because it's such a catastrophic thing to happen, and no warning — and everybody responds differently."
In April 2025, Gabby, who was just 19 when her younger brother died, opened up about the effect it had on her on the ainslie + ainslie Performance People podcast.
She said: 'I was running around running from my grief probably and then by the end of my first year at university, so just around the time of his first anniversary I had some first year exams and it all kind of came crashing down.
'I'd stopped sleeping properly. I felt very wobbly, I just kind of lost my balance and I went to see a doctor and he gave me some sleeping tablets and I thought 'That's not what I need'.
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Gabby paid a moving tribute to her brother on the 33rd anniversary of his passing
Credit: Alamy
'Even I knew that's not the answer to what was going on, it was much deeper than that, it was the plaster and my dad had had a lot of problems with sleeping tablets. He said 'Don't take those, that's not a good route'.'
And on the 33rd anniversary of his untimely passing, Gabby posted a tribute on Instagram: "It's 33 years. So much has happened, so many huge landmarks passed.
'I will always acknowledge Daniel's wonderful life. But there is a hole that is never filled, a gap that always needs navigating and that has been the challenge for all of us.
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'A beautiful, painful and brilliant challenge. And that is life. Daniel Aiden Yorath 25.7.76 - 25.5.92."
Daniel's death inspired Gabby to champion campaigns for heart screening among young athletes, aiming to prevent similar tragedies in other families.
She has actively raised awareness about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the importance of early detection, supporting charities and appeals in Daniel's name.
Gabby has presented appeals for charities focused on heart health, including Tiny Tickers, which works to improve early detection of heart defects in children.