NCAA Football Player Dies After Team's First Practice
Football can’t seem to get through summer practice without its share of tragedies.
Back in July, University of Maine freshman Darius Minor died on the field when he collapsed just 15 minutes into a practice session.
In September 2017, two college football players died on the same day, bringing the tally for that point in the year all the way up to five.
And now 19-year-old Braeden Bradforth, playing for Garden City Community College in Kansas, has died of a heart attack following the team’s first practice of the season.
The 6-foot-3, 300-pound defensive tackle collapsed Wednesday in 87-degree heat.
Bradforth made it back to his dorm room but was found “medically distressed” at 9:30 that night. He was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead two hours later.
The young man’s family started a GoFundMe to raise the money to return Braeden’s body to his native Neptune, New Jersey, for funeral and burial services. By Tuesday afternoon it had raised more than $9,000, far surpassing the $7,000 goal.
“Braeden will be missed not only by his family but by everyone whose life he touched,” Bradforth’s family said. “He always took great pride in his family, friends, and community, always looking for ways to help others.”
Coach Jeff Sims told the Garden City Telegram that doctors told him Bradforth suffered from a blood clotting disorder, which may serve to explain the cause of death.
The hospital will perform an autopsy in order to determine the exact cause of the player’s demise, but the working theory appears to be that a blood clot formed, broke loose in the bloodstream, traveled to the heart and then cut off the flow of blood to vital organs, killing Bradforth.
Sims praised the young man.
“While Braeden may have lived 19 years, to the last day, he was doing it the right way, that was something we were proud of,” Sims said.
The rash of deaths in college football, from the recent on-field incidents to the suicide of Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski in June, has many parents and fans alarmed.
It’s not the 20 deaths in 1905 that nearly caused then-president Theodore Roosevelt to ban the sport, but it’s a terrible string for a sport facing a variety of challenges.
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