Three high school football players died in the last week, the most recent being a 16-year-old in Long Island, N.Y., who collapsed after running into an opponent during a game Wednesday.
Credit: Maureen Downey
Credit: Maureen Downey
On Sunday, a 17-year-old Alabama player died from injuries sustained in a game Friday. A North Carolina 17-year died Monday after collapsing during pregame warm-ups Friday.
The three deaths will likely intensify the debate over the dangers of football, a discussion that is occurring at every level of the game, from the peewee leagues to the NFL.
I am meeting more parents thinking twice about letting their sons play football as more information comes to light about the lifelong impact of repeated blows to the head. A sports writer friend predicted schools may reconsider football as a result of the emerging concussion research and the threat of lawsuits.
As the AJC reported recently:
"There are a lot of things that are very important with the NCAA as far as the health and safety of the student-athlete, " NCAA chief medical officer Brian Hainline said, "and concussion is right up there as first and foremost. It's the elephant on the table, and we, with everyone else, we have to solve it."
Every year, about a dozen high school and college football players die due to game-related injuries. But many more suffer concussions. There are 300,000 sports-related concussions reported each year, although experts contend that is an under-representation of the actual occurrences.
As the Sept. 29th Time magazine cover story -- "Is Football Worth It?" -- reported:
In a study on concussion rates in high school sports published on Sept. 17, researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health found that football had the highest incidence of the brain-rattling impacts—nearly 45% more than the runner-up, girls' soccer. That rate… more than doubled for high school football players from 2005 through the 2013–14 school year… From 2007 to 2013, tackle-football participation fell 26.5% among U.S. kids ages 6 to 12… the sharpest decline of any major team sport."
The death of Long Island linebacker and guard Tom Cutinella Wednesday was described by the district superintendent as a “freak accident.”
"I think it was the result of a typical football play. It was just a freak accident," Superintendent Steven Cohen said at a press conference today. "You know, the game involves contact, and it was the result of a freak football play."
"Tom Cutinella was beloved by everyone who knew him," Cohen said. "His death in a terrible sports accident yesterday has touched everyone in this community very deeply."
In August, Zyrees Oliver, the captain of the Douglas County High School football team, collapsed during practice and died five days later. The 17-year-old had a 3.8 GPA and hoped to play college football.
Last year, Creekside High junior De'Antre Turman died during a pre-season scrimmage. The medical examiner said the 16-year-old’s death resulted from his neck vertebrae being broken "due to blunt force trauma."
At the time, the AJC reported:
"He was definitely one of the best players at the camp, and the thing I really loved about him was that he was real quiet and reserved, " said Joe Burns, co-founder of RisingSeniors.com. "He was one of those kids that was really focused, and trying to make the most out of the opportunity."
Before Turman's death, the last time that a high school athlete in Georgia died as the result of injuries during a football game or training was in 2009 when a running back at Cook High School in Adel died after being tackled and hit in the chest during spring practice.
Several Georgia football players have died in recent years from heat stroke or heart conditions.
So, to repeat the question Time magazine asked: Is high school football worth the risk? And one more question: Is it worth the growing liability to schools?
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