Three North Carolina high school football players have died since August. Two of the deaths were due to head injuries.
Oct 9, 2008
The recent deaths of three North Carolina high school football players are at the center of a special meeting Thursday morning.
Medical experts planned to attend the North Carolina High School Athletic Association's meeting in Chapel Hill. The association is working to prevent another football-related death.
State schools could soon be required to have licensed medical trainers on staff. That is one possible outcome of Thursday’s meeting, according to association officials.
The association planned to discuss the recent deaths of three football players – Atlas Fraley, 17, of Chapel Hill High School; Juquan Waller, 17, of J.H. Rose High School in Greenville; and Matt Gfeller, 15, of Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem.
Fraley’s parents found him unresponsive on the evening of Aug. 12 at the family’s home. They were unable to revive him. Fraley had participated in a football scrimmage that morning.
He complained in a 911 call that afternoon that he felt dehydrated. He refused to be taken to a hospital after emergency personnel went to his home, however, and was found a few hours later.
Waller, a junior running back, left the field after being tackled in a game. He then collapsed on the sideline. Waller was taken to Pitt County Memorial Hospital, where he was placed on life support. He died on Sept. 20.
He had been hit in practice two days before the game and suffered a mild concussion.
The cause of death was “closed head injury (due) to sequential impacts during contact sport,” according to a medical examiner.
Gfeller died Aug. 24, two days after a hit that he took in a game against Greensboro Page led to cranial bleeding.
WRAL-TV and HighSchoolOT.com were at the meeting and will have more information as it becomes available.
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