Towson Player Hospitalized, im critical condition?

[Dane96]

I have been told a Towson O Lineman suffered heat stroke yesterday and fell into a coma. Apparently he came to today but he is currently beimg airlifted to an undisclosed hospital for treatment of internal organs.

Anyone else hear about this?

If true...thoughts and prayers to the player, his family and the Towson football family.

[BEAR]

Thoughts and prayers for him and his family for sure!

It gets hot but not a lot of people realize how much hotter it is in those unis. Hope he's alright..but heat stroke is serious.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I was listening to a special on ESPN Radio yesterday about heat stroke. There's simply no excuse for this to happen anymore. Coaches need to be held much more accountable for this sort of thing. Very sad.....

[RichH2]

Geez, hope it is overblown. Heat stroke not easy Hope kid pulls thru. Thoughts for he and his family

[BEAR]

Sometimes it is something more than just the heat. I've seen players in full unis out in 100 degree weather with temps at 130 degrees on the field before stay hydrated but even that isn't easy to do. Gotta be careful.

[Laker]

This reminds me of Korey Stringer of the Vikings. I hope that he comes out OK.

[Go Green]

Sometimes it is something more than just the heat. I've seen players in full unis out in 100 degree weather with temps at 130 degrees on the field before stay hydrated but even that isn't easy to do. Gotta be careful.

Today wasn't that type of day.

Warm, yes. But if anything pretty mild for mid-August.

In any event, hope he's ok.

[Professor Chaos]

Wow, first and foremost I hope the kid gets better but this is another black eye for Rob Ambrose regarding his treatment of players.

[fmrbearkat]

In 1998 as a sophomore in high school we had an old school coach that didn't give us water until after conditioning and me a 2 others had heat strokes. I was in the worst shape and nobody really knew much about heat stroke treatment at that time (pre kory stringer) and they made it worse. I had no memory of about 2 hours but I do know my dad (he was there) called my mom and told her you better get to the hospital if you want to see your son alive. I came too at the hospital with no major side effects but it was really bad! Trainer was fired after that!

[BEAR]

Today wasn't that type of day.

Warm, yes. But if anything pretty mild for mid-August.

In any event, hope he's ok.

Looks like the temp was 88 degrees today there.

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

Are any news outlets reporting on this? I'm not seeing anything.

[Dane96]

None yet....which is shocking.

[T-Dog]

Players who come into camp out of shape in an effort to bulk up and then try to compensate with Gatorades and supplements while not drinking as much water is a recipe for this kind of thing to happen.

An App freshman named Storm Moore came in a few years ago as a promising OL and almost died on the field a week into summer camp. Went from 250 to 290 during the summer and had complete kidney failure and on dialysis. He had to quit football altogether.

[LehighU11]

I really hope this kid recovers. That's truly frightening for him and the rest of the squad.

Coach Ambrose is undoubtedly an intense guy who has turned the program's results around, but this is another eyebrow-raising event coming out of Towson. Let's just hope that this isn't a case of neglecting player safety.

[Redhawk2010]

I was listening to a special on ESPN Radio yesterday about heat stroke. There's simply no excuse for this to happen anymore. Coaches need to be held much more accountable for this sort of thing. Very sad.....

Outside the Lines just had a great segment on this on Sunday. Heat stroke is 100% preventable. And each team should have adequate athletic training staffs who have the knowledge and training to recognize and manage heat illnesses. When it is recognized, the very first thing that must happen is rapid cooling. It is one emergency where you should delay EMS transport. Utilization of cold tubs is crucial. Colleges and the NFL should not have any of these incidents.

[smallcollegefbfan]

I was listening to a special on ESPN Radio yesterday about heat stroke. There's simply no excuse for this to happen anymore. Coaches need to be held much more accountable for this sort of thing. Very sad.....

The only way you can blame the coach is if he was not givign water breaks. This very likely may not be the fault of Ambrose. I have a hard time believing it's so hot at Towson that players are going down at the fault of coaches but not in GA, FL, TX, etc. This was probably just a freak thing unless many players were cramping and having major problems. This happens. I hate that for the kid but I can't blame Ambrose unless I was at practice and saw it happen.

My coaches were harder on us. I remember one guy getting kicked in the ass by a coach while in his stance, coaches grabbing our facemasks and jerking us around, saying every curse word in the book, and getting physical with us, pushing us very hard in 100 degree weather and working us like dogs. Football is a tough man's game.

I talked to a scout today who said he was at LSU's practice and they were going at it much harder than his NFL team was in terms of hitting and popping each other, said the NFL is so hard on it that they don't hit like you want to see. They weren't having players go down at LSU so I imagine that this kid just had a freak thing happen.

With that said, I hope he is okay and I always hate to see this happen. I just know you can't always jump on the coaches because I have seen players pass out in 90 degree weather and the same player be okay in 100 degree weather, with coaches treating them the same way. Sad things like this will always happen unless you practice indoors with air conditioning.

[LoneStar]

I really hope this kid recovers. That's truly frightening for him and the rest of the squad.

Coach Ambrose is undoubtedly an intense guy who has turned the program's results around, but this is another eyebrow-raising event coming out of Towson. Let's just hope that this isn't a case of neglecting player safety.

Seriously, you jump right to speculation? It's not like these guys are doing double sessions everyday like they were two decades ago.

[Bisonoline]

There is a difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Usually the Head coach and the Trainer get together when making an itinerary for practice sessions. They take in to consideration the physical exertion levels, heat and humidity and the required hydration needed for the activity. Now a days coaches are very in tune to this as opposed to the old school bs where you didnt get water breaks.
I am absolutely astounded that more kids back in the day didnt fall out during two a days considering the conventional wisdom of that time.

[Dane96]

I have heard the player is Gavin Class, a transfer from the University of Rochester. I presume he is a walk-on-- was listed on the roster last season. The good news is that he is apparently healthy enough to transfer to another hospital. The generally do not do that unless the patient has stabilized from the coma.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Hope he comes out OK on this. Well wishes from MT going his way.

[RichH2]

I have heard the player is Gavin Class, a transfer from the University of Rochester. I presume he is a walk-on-- was listed on the roster last season. The good news is that he is apparently healthy enough to transfer to another hospital. The generally do not do that unless the patient has stabilized from the coma.

Great news

[ngineer]

Not just the heat but the humidity combined is important. In this day, no excuse for this to happen unless there is a congenital issue involved. So much information and warnings out there now about hydrating, etc.

[fmrbearkat]

It is 100% preventable. It was as much my fault as it was the trainers and coaches. It was the first day of camp and the schedule said we were supposed to have orientation and pass out pads. Well the coach decided to take us out and run 4x400's at 2pm in August in Texas. I did not eat enough or drink enough that morning and ran out of juices. With proper nutrition, adequate prehydration, and water during the workout you should never have a heatstroke. Unless there are outstanding factors like pré existing medical conditions or stimulants.

My prayers are with this kid....it's an absolutely horrible thing to go through! The last thing I remember before I lost my memory for 2 hours was laying on the ground feeling trapped in a body that wouldn't work or respond in any manor. Felt like a nightmare!

[andy7171]

You can't blame Ambrose. Even back in my days at Towson(early 90's) the head athletic trainer was in charge of whether we could practice in full pads and how many water breaks we took. As well as monitoring our weigh ins pre and post practice. I remember him making me drink a crap load of water one day when my weight dropped from 274 to 259 one afternoon.
There is no doubt things have gotten more strict these days. I hope this kid recovers.

[andy7171]

Also it was mid 90's and very humid yesterday in Baltimore.

[Tribal]

Obviously feels much hotter in full pads and helmet. It doesn't need to be Phoenix hot to have heat stroke. And, the player's physical conditioning means very little...larger muscles require more blood and oxygen and fat places stress on internal organs.

I hope this young man pulls through.

[Go Green]

Also it was mid 90's and very humid yesterday in Baltimore.

The high in Towson was 88 with decent humidity.

http://www.weather.com/weather/yesterday/hourly/Towson+MD+USMD0400:1:US

It was warm, yes. But hardly oppressive. Obviously, we all hope that the kid is ok. But if yesterday was dangerous, you might as well declare no football in August...

[andy7171]

The high in Towson was 88 with decent humidity.

http://www.weather.com/weather/yesterday/hourly/Towson+MD+USMD0400:1:US

It was warm, yes. But hardly oppressive. Obviously, we all hope that the kid is ok. But if yesterday was dangerous, you might as well declare no football in August...

I only live there, what would I know. Turf fields are a great place to be in the mid afternoon with a black helmet on.

[PAllen]

I only live there, what would I know. Turf fields are a great place to be in the mid afternoon with a black helmet on.

Yeah, I've had the soles of my shoes melt and gotten 1st degree burns on the soles of my feet (through my shoes) working scrimmages on that turf in mid August. it can get visciously hot on modern turf that's been baking in the sun all day. My prayers are with the player and his family, and let's hold off on crucifying Ambrose until more info comes out.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Yeah, I've had the soles of my shoes melt and gotten 1st degree burns on the soles of my feet (through my shoes) working scrimmages on that turf in mid August. it can get visciously hot on modern turf that's been baking in the sun all day. My prayers are with the player and his family, and let's hold off on crucifying Ambrose until more info comes out.

Always the right move and could not agree more.

[Bisonoline]

Yeah, I've had the soles of my shoes melt and gotten 1st degree burns on the soles of my feet (through my shoes) working scrimmages on that turf in mid August. it can get visciously hot on modern turf that's been baking in the sun all day. My prayers are with the player and his family, and let's hold off on crucifying Ambrose until more info comes out.

The turf back in the 70 was equally hot. When we went did walk throughs on friday before the OSU game you couldnt stand in one spot too long as your feet would burn. Plus we had black sweats and Black helmets on. For a practice that was supposed to be easy It was brutal.