Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

9/1/2008 - Football Deaths Sobering Reminder

It is a parent’s worst nightmare. You send your child out to play football and you get a call that your child is hurt, or worse, yet, you witness your child crumble lifelessly to the turf during a game or practice.

It doesn’t matter how it happened, whether it was a hit, or if your child just dropped to the ground, your heart goes in your throat and you rush to the sideline hoping and praying for the best.

Thankfully, almost always the injury is not fatal, but it does occur, and the two tragic deaths that took place last week in Bergen County are grim reminders of what a physically demanding sport football can be.

Although the statistics show that playing football is incredibly safer than driving in a car, I’m sure those numbers mean nothing and serve as no comfort to the families of the two boys who died last week.

Sean Fisher, the energetic son of a Scottish immigrant, died on his 13^th birth in Waldwick when he was felled by an undetected heart ailment during a youth football practice. A few days later, a junior on the Cliffside Park High School football team went into a coma after suffering a hit to the head in practice and eventually passed away a few days later due to brain trauma. Douglas Morales was just 17.

Heartbreaking.

According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, there were nine football-related deaths in 2007 with four of those heat-related and two heart-ailments related. According to the center, 1.8 million people played football in 2007 and the incidences per 100,000 in high school or junior high school football was 0.02.

The powers that be have done a great job of limiting football-related deaths and injuries over the years. Since 1931, 1006 people have died in football-related deaths, but an astounding 608 of those deaths occurred between 1931-1936.

Better protective equipment and coaching techniques have been leading factors in cutting the fatality rate. Years ago, players were taught to lead with their head when tackling and blocking. That would unconscionable to do nowadays; in fact it should get a coach fired on the spot. Since the practice of “spearing” was outlawed in 1976, neck and spinal injuries have dropped considerably.

But even during a “clean hit” things go bad quickly. It was just a short three years ago that Blair Academy senior captain Kurt Socha was part of a legal hit in the Bucs’ game against the Hill School, but Socha went unconscious and never recovered, dying a couple weeks later at Morristown Memorial Hospital.

It was a horrible tragedy that the people of Blair and the Hill School will never forget. But for as tragic and unthinkable that Socha’s death was, one could understand how it happened—football is sport made of violent collisions and there is a risk involved every time you put on the pads and strap on a helmet.

And with players getting bigger, stronger and faster each year, the risk rises. For example, when I played high school ball for Vernon 25 years ago, our offensive and defensive lines were considered huge and we only had one guy that weighed over 225 pounds.

Take a look at the lines in the Sussex County Interscholastic League today, and we would be considered average-sized.

But what about Fisher? He had taken a physical and none of the tests detected his condition. He dropped untouched. That is the type of situation that is the most terrifying. You do everything you need to do as a parent and it still isn’t enough.

So what is the solution? Should all football players take electrocardiograms as part of the screening process? The answer according to some experts is no. In an article in The Record of Hackensack, Dr. Richard Goldweit, Chief of Cardiology at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center said EKGs would not solve the problem in that they do not detect all ailments. He likened it to, “a needle in a haystack” scenario.

What about defibrillators? I know all high school games have EMTs on site and I’m sure many have them. But at $1,500 a pop, they don’t come cheap and they aren’t’ a cure-all, either.

This brings me to mind the tragic death of Jamie Bliss, a 16-year-old on the Caldwell High School football team who died of heart failure during practice in 2006. Whenever a young person dies, it hits home. But Bliss’ death really hit home for me.

Bliss had just completed a receiving drill and was tackled. He got up a little wobbly and then dropped. One of the first people to tend to him was my longtime friend and former college roommate and football buddy. His name is not important, but he was and still is the defensive backs coach for the Chiefs and he told me that Bliss essentially died in his arms.

As luck would have it, the Chiefs’ team doctor was there and there was a defibrillator on hand. Bliss was treated immediately and rushed to the hospital, but to no avail. My friend told me what a great kid Bliss was. He was hard worker whose work ethic made up for his limited skills and he was and still is devastated by his death.

Caldwell head coach Ken Trimmer is one of the most successful coaches in the state, but since Bliss’ death the Chiefs have struggled. My friend doesn’t believe there is a correlation, but to me, it is too much of a coincidence.

So what does this all mean? Am I saying football should be banned, like Teddy Roosevelt wanted to do back in the early 1900s when players were dropping like flies? Not in the least. I love football and everything about it. I played most of my life until my body said enough, jerky, after playing in a full-contact on the line flag football league in Hackettstown for over 10 years after college.

What should be done is this. If you have heart disease in your family, make sure your child is screened before he plays football, or any sport for that matter. It may cost some money, but you can’t put a price on peace of mind. And for those who can’t afford it, schools or the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association should help defray the cost.

And football coaches from Pony League to high school should always teach proper tackling and blocking technique. Football is violent enough, the days of Neanderthal coaching are over. Telling a kid who is dizzy to suck it up is just unacceptable.

As long as there is football, there will be kids faking it as well. Good coaches can sniff those kids out in a minute. It is your tough kids that you have to keep the closest eye on.

It is an old cliché, but so true, a little prevention can go along way. Now go out and root for your favorite team and enjoy the football season. I know I will.

That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.

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Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

9/1/2008 - Football Deaths Sobering Reminder