So friends and relatives were baffled after learning that Gaines, 32, had been punched, and then struck and killed by a cab in the early hours of Super Bowl Sunday outside Mother Hubbard's Sports Pub in the Near North neighborhood. But friends of Marques Gaines say they're baffled by reports of their incredibly calm friend ever fighting anyone. Authorities said Gaines appeared to have been speaking with two men on the sidewalk near the corner of Hubbard and State streets when one of them punched him in the head, knocking him unconscious into the street. He was hit and rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, police said. Moments later, he was struck by a cabdriver who did not see him lying in the street, police said. Introverted and bullied as a youngster, Gaines "blossomed" into a social butterfly while attending Northern Michigan University, Nelson said. "He was effervescent," Hogan said. "He really learned who Marques was, and he learned what he really wanted done," she said. The dapper dresser who worked at a North Michigan Avenue hotel was often the life of the party who gave his undivided attention to those with whom he spoke. Rudy Coronel worked alongside Gaines at the hotel for five years, said every time he checked his work schedule he hoped their shifts would overlap. He was just that kind of guy, so full of life." The Cook County medical examiner's office is awaiting the police investigation before deciding whether to classify the death as a homicide or accident. With Gaines' funeral scheduled for Saturday in his native Georgia, his friends, family and co-workers at Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile remembered him as a positive force.
– In the overnight hours of Feb. 7, a man knocked Marques Gaines unconscious with a punch to the head. He fell into the street, where a second man took Gaines' cellphone and debit card. After the pair fled the scene, Gaines was struck and killed by a cab whose driver never saw him lying in front of Mother Hubbard's Sports Pub in Chicago. Some two weeks later, police have not made any arrests in the death of the 32-year-old, the Chicago Tribune reports. The medical examiner has put off classifying the death as a homicide or accident pending the investigation, which involves analysis of surveillance video. The cab driver remained at the scene and wasn't ticketed. Gaines, who was from Georgia, had lived in Chicago for several years and worked as a bartender at the downtown Marriott Hotel at the time of his death. Friends remember the usually well-dressed Gaines as a positive force and balk at speculation that he had been involved in an argument with his assailants. "I've never even seen him exchange words with someone," one tells DNAinfo. "The maddest I've ever seen him was … when I didn't know all the words to 'Trap Queen.'" A funeral for Gaines is set for Saturday in Georgia.