Player safety is a topic that many collegiate schools and professional leagues try and be proactive about. New pads and rules are added to the game to make it safer, such as the mandate by the NFL that any player exhibiting concussion-like symptoms must come off the field to be evaluated, the new flagrant foul system in the NBA or the ongoing process of trying to eliminate special teams plays from football at the collegiate level. While teams and schools always claim to want to be at the forefront of movements and technologies, when it comes to player safety, yet, there is another area that they are completely failing the players and student athletes through ignorance of possible life-threatening health concerns.
Recently I wrote of how teams needed to include a sport psychologist in their medical staff with the immense of amount of pressure and scrutiny players endure these days. However, in this instance I am discussing the ignorance of possible physical ailments that, paired with stress and strenuous activity, has led to the deaths of athletes and will continue to do so until changes are made. There are athletes that are going into college that do not have any idea they suffer from a heart defect. In some instances, it can end a career for the fear of the stresses that a high-level sport could have on the heart. For others, a regimen of medicine can help them to manage their condition to a degree. In either case, putting athletes with these potential problems is completely unacceptable, and negligence endangers athletes lives every time they lace up their shoes.
It seems oddly coincidental that players will play throughout college with their heart defect, and if not suffering debilitating systems (including death) it will take until they are evaluated by an NBA or NFL medical staff before it’s discovered that they suffer from a life-threatening illness. Take the case of Isaiah Austin, the former Baylor power forward, who was expected to be a first-round draft pick. When going in for his NBA medical screenings, it was discovered he suffered from Marfan Syndrome which led to an enlarged heart and arteries. He was told to quit basketball because if he overworked or pushed himself, his heart could literally burst. Reggie Ragland, a suspected first-round draft pick slipped to the second when it was discovered that he had an enlarged aorta, which still affords him the ability to play football.
These are two cases where athletes made it through their college careers without discovering they suffered from a heart defect, and only discovered it when they went to get checked at a professional level. Why is this so? Athletes take physicals before they can play for the college program to which they committed, so are the colleges not being thorough enough, do they not want to spend the money on more thorough exams, or are they ignoring it to try and use a player for a few years to elevate their program knowing there’s a relatively slim chance that any harm will come from it. Whether lazy, greedy, or conniving, are any really acceptable when it comes to a person’s life?
Hank Gathers from Loyola Marymount dying on the court in 1990 due to a cardiomyopathy should have been a wake-up call for change.
It wasn’t.
Reggie Lewis, of the Boston Celtics, collapsing and dying on the court of the same disorder in 1993 was a cry for diligence.
It fell on deaf ears.
This past week Oklahoma State University’s Tyrek Coger died after a 40 minute workout outside. He too had an enlarged heart.
Will this time be different?
