Stafford Football Player Dies Following Collapse
By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006; 2:50 PM
A 16-year-old Stafford High School football player died early this morning, three days after collapsing during the team's second practice of the season, school athletic director Wes Bergazzi said.
Junior lineman Joey Roberson had been hospitalized since becoming ill during practice on Tuesday. He initially was taken by ambulance to Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, and then transported by helicopter to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he was reported to be in critical condition.
The cause of death was not immediately available. A hospital spokeswoman said Roberson died at 3:10 a.m., but declined to provide further information because of federal privacy laws
A handful of players and their parents spent much of yesterday at Inova Fairfax Hospital. "He's been getting great care here; he just hasn't been responding," Rick Shacklette, whose son, Aaron, plays for Stafford, said at the hospital on Thursday evening. "Everybody is real saddened."
Bergazzi said that the team's two practices scheduled for today have been cancelled and a team meeting would be held instead. The school's other fall sports teams also cancelled today's practices, Bergazzi said. Roberson's collapse was first reported yesterday by the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg.
Tuesday was the second day of practice for Stafford; its players were in T-shirts and shorts and had yet to wear equipment during practice because Virginia High School League rules stipulate teams must practice for three days before doing so.
"They just had a really hard workout, and he became ill," Rick Shacklette said. "From what I'm told, he blacked out a couple times and tried to push himself through it and go on. It was one of the hardest practices they'd had, from what I understand."
Roberson had played on the junior varsity team last season. At 6-feet-2 and 280 pounds, he was projected to be a varsity starter at offensive tackle this season.
Although the weather was warm on Tuesday, with a high of 90 degrees in the District, the heat was not as stifling as it had been last week. Bergazzi said safety had been a preseason concern and that water and ice were available throughout practice.
Bergazzi said Wednesday's practice also had been canceled, and replaced by a team meeting with first-year coach Chad Lewis and school officials; counselors subsequently were made available to players seeking individual attention. About two-thirds of the players attended a single optional practice yesterday evening, Bergazzi said. Two more optional sessions had been planned for today before Roberson's death was announced.
"We just felt, given the circumstances, young kids in certain situations have different reactions to things," Bergazzi said. "We left [whether to practice] open to them and their parents."
It is the second consecutive year that the Stafford football team has been struck by tragedy in the preseason. Last year, rising sophomore Jammie Williams died of liver cancer. "The kids have struggled through a couple different hard times," Shacklette said. "It's brought them together and they've bonded."
Roberson is the second Washington-area athlete to die this year; Watkins Mill wrestler Mike Tyler died on January 27 after breaking his neck in a match earlier in the month.
Earlier this month, 15-year-old Tyler L. Davis, a football player at Rockdale County (Ga.) High School, died after collapsing on the practice field. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, two other high school players have also died this preseason.
Staff writer Stephen A. Norris contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00105.html
This is a very sad but recurring story.
But this kid was HUGE, though. At only 16, he passed away at 6'2, 280 pounds!
RIP Joey.
