Dead Phoenix football player identified
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SWC75
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Very sad. No mention of it in today's paper. It reminded me of a similar incident in a 1953 Syracuse game that I covered in my series "The Bold, Brave Men of Archbold: 1953":
The game seemed like a normal game most of the afternoon. No one knew that one of the participants would not survive it. The newspaper account of the game is spare, as if the reporters were more interested in the other story of the day, as well they should have been. There were only three pictures of the game published, all very small and none showing a score. They do reveal that Syracuse was in it’s white jerseys with orange helmet and pants while BU was in scarlet and white, with the helmets and pants white. The first shot was of Joe Terrasi carrying the ball to the SU 1 foot line in the first quarter, just before the first score, Lyle Carleson fumbling a white colored football at an unknown juncture of the game and a picture of BU guard John Pappas, #55, in game action, watching a tackle being made “about an hour…before he lapsed into unconsciousness“...
Early in the fourth period of this game, Boston U was lining up for a play after moving from their 10 to the 30 on “seven hard-fought running plays” when guard John Pappas sank to one knee and told his teammates “I was banged on a play or two before.” It was the last thing he ever said. He passed out and never regained consciousness. He died at 3:30AM the following morning. His parents arrived at Hancock Airport at 5:30AM and were taken by cab to the Hotel Onondaga where Coach Donelli had to tell them that their son was dead.
An autopsy at University Hospital determined Pappas died of “an unusual hemorrhage to the middle brain, which caused impairment of vital body processes“, but there had been no fracture. Dr. Edward Swift said “It’s very unusual in football when a player who suffers a head injury isn’t knocked out.” He labeled it “a freak accident”, saying “He suddenly went bad and died.“ A picture in the paper of Pappas in action earlier in the game shows him without any face-mask: but nobody else has one, either.
Both coachers agreed that the game wasn’t unusually rough and it was reported that the players on both teams were very friendly to each other after the game. SU Athletic Director Lew Andreas said that relations between the schools had always been good and there was no reason to believe that would change. Donelli said that as far as he knew, the Terriers would play the remaining games on their schedule. SU and BU would continue to play every year through 1960.
There was some talk that the injury was due to the one-platoon system being too much for Pappas and potentially other players to handle but Donelli said that in his career Pappas had played as much as 55 minutes in a game under the one platoon system and not been injured.
A telegram was sent to Boston U. and to Pappas family, signed by the men’s and women’s student government heads at SU, offering condolences and saying they would like to attend the funeral. 1000 people were in attendance, including all 50 of Papas’ teammates. A collection was taken among the crowd at Boston U’s next game against Penn State to establish a memorial fund. At the end of the season, SU’s players named John Pappas the captain of their All-opponent team.
Bill Reddy wrote: “The death of John Pappas, the fine young senior guard on the Boston University team., was a shocking affair and his family an teammates receive all our sympathy. This is the first fatality suffered as a result of an injury suffered in Archbold Stadium since the big concrete bowl was built in 1909 and the medical findings still are incomplete. There is a possibility, based on studies which have not been fully checked, that a pre-game injury, entirely unsuspected, led up to Pappas’ death. Regardless of everything else, however, it is a sad outcome for any game. It casts a pall over both squads and leaves football itself in an ignoble light.”
The game seemed like a normal game most of the afternoon. No one knew that one of the participants would not survive it. The newspaper account of the game is spare, as if the reporters were more interested in the other story of the day, as well they should have been. There were only three pictures of the game published, all very small and none showing a score. They do reveal that Syracuse was in it’s white jerseys with orange helmet and pants while BU was in scarlet and white, with the helmets and pants white. The first shot was of Joe Terrasi carrying the ball to the SU 1 foot line in the first quarter, just before the first score, Lyle Carleson fumbling a white colored football at an unknown juncture of the game and a picture of BU guard John Pappas, #55, in game action, watching a tackle being made “about an hour…before he lapsed into unconsciousness“...
Early in the fourth period of this game, Boston U was lining up for a play after moving from their 10 to the 30 on “seven hard-fought running plays” when guard John Pappas sank to one knee and told his teammates “I was banged on a play or two before.” It was the last thing he ever said. He passed out and never regained consciousness. He died at 3:30AM the following morning. His parents arrived at Hancock Airport at 5:30AM and were taken by cab to the Hotel Onondaga where Coach Donelli had to tell them that their son was dead.
An autopsy at University Hospital determined Pappas died of “an unusual hemorrhage to the middle brain, which caused impairment of vital body processes“, but there had been no fracture. Dr. Edward Swift said “It’s very unusual in football when a player who suffers a head injury isn’t knocked out.” He labeled it “a freak accident”, saying “He suddenly went bad and died.“ A picture in the paper of Pappas in action earlier in the game shows him without any face-mask: but nobody else has one, either.
Both coachers agreed that the game wasn’t unusually rough and it was reported that the players on both teams were very friendly to each other after the game. SU Athletic Director Lew Andreas said that relations between the schools had always been good and there was no reason to believe that would change. Donelli said that as far as he knew, the Terriers would play the remaining games on their schedule. SU and BU would continue to play every year through 1960.
There was some talk that the injury was due to the one-platoon system being too much for Pappas and potentially other players to handle but Donelli said that in his career Pappas had played as much as 55 minutes in a game under the one platoon system and not been injured.
A telegram was sent to Boston U. and to Pappas family, signed by the men’s and women’s student government heads at SU, offering condolences and saying they would like to attend the funeral. 1000 people were in attendance, including all 50 of Papas’ teammates. A collection was taken among the crowd at Boston U’s next game against Penn State to establish a memorial fund. At the end of the season, SU’s players named John Pappas the captain of their All-opponent team.
Bill Reddy wrote: “The death of John Pappas, the fine young senior guard on the Boston University team., was a shocking affair and his family an teammates receive all our sympathy. This is the first fatality suffered as a result of an injury suffered in Archbold Stadium since the big concrete bowl was built in 1909 and the medical findings still are incomplete. There is a possibility, based on studies which have not been fully checked, that a pre-game injury, entirely unsuspected, led up to Pappas’ death. Regardless of everything else, however, it is a sad outcome for any game. It casts a pall over both squads and leaves football itself in an ignoble light.”
Orangeyes
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How do you find this stuff? Do you subscribe to the newspapers archives?
Here is a further update on the story posted within the hour
Phoenix athlete's death refocuses attention on head injuries
Autopsy being performed on high school player
Here is a further update on the story posted within the hour
Phoenix athlete's death refocuses attention on head injuries
Autopsy being performed on high school player
SWC75
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Yes.
OrangeCrush22
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Damn, sad and scary. Shows how fragile life is. I feel for his family, and the child who collided with him. I have to wonder if there was an underlying medical condition. Usually in freak cases like this there are.
Orangeyes
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This news has gone national, Fox, Washington Post, front page on AOL home page etc. It's a concern to all who care about our kids who play high school football. I can't remember the last local boy who died playing that sport. There was a kid at Westhill, Tim Metzger who died playing basketball and ironically it was in Homer NY. That punched this community below the belt. Car accidents, drug over doses and suicides are usually the way young kids die not on football fields and basketball courts.
"Tim Metzger, 17: Onondaga, N.Y.: Collapsed during a timeout with less than five minutes remaining in a basketball game on Jan. 31. He had passed a physical, but a week before his death, Mr. Metzger had complained to his coach about feeling dizzy, which can be a sign of heart or circulation problems. He died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Robert Howe, the Cortland County coroner, said.
"Richard Cavallaro, the principal of Westhill Central School in upstate New York, said Tim Metzger's death has changed the way he watches an athletic event."
"That's part of what you can't shake," he said. "You're watching a game and all of a sudden a terrible thought will pop into your mind when somebody stops to catch their breath or someone goes down. There's a new sense of relief when the athlete gets back up."
From the NY Times March 14, 1994
Deaths of Youthful Athletes Raise Questions Over Testing
There is a scholarship named in Tim's honor
A very nice way to remember a good kid.
"Tim Metzger, 17: Onondaga, N.Y.: Collapsed during a timeout with less than five minutes remaining in a basketball game on Jan. 31. He had passed a physical, but a week before his death, Mr. Metzger had complained to his coach about feeling dizzy, which can be a sign of heart or circulation problems. He died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Robert Howe, the Cortland County coroner, said.
"Richard Cavallaro, the principal of Westhill Central School in upstate New York, said Tim Metzger's death has changed the way he watches an athletic event."
"That's part of what you can't shake," he said. "You're watching a game and all of a sudden a terrible thought will pop into your mind when somebody stops to catch their breath or someone goes down. There's a new sense of relief when the athlete gets back up."
From the NY Times March 14, 1994
Deaths of Youthful Athletes Raise Questions Over Testing
There is a scholarship named in Tim's honor
A very nice way to remember a good kid.
CuseLegacy
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Very sad for all involved. Unfortunately there have been similar incidences in NC. Currently at UNC there is now a a traumatic sport injury program named after Matt Gfeller, a HS football player who died from a helmet to helmet injury 3 years ago in a game in Winston Salem, NC.
http://www.matthewgfellerfoundation.org/
http://www.matthewgfellerfoundation.org/
cusedog321
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I am a Graduate of Homer and still remember the tragedy from that Homer Westhill game, It was so sad. My wife and I were coming back from Syracuse and saw the ambulance Friday night head to the High School what a aweful thing to have happen it will effect that poor family forever, and also the young men from both teams. My heart felt sympathy for that young man's family, and the Phoenix football team and community.
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What year?
cusedog321
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2001
dollarbill44
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Definitely sad. I saw this on ESPN.com Saturday.
Excuse my ignorance, but what news of significance happened on October 2, 1953?
Orangeyes
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As a kid I remember that date very well. Edward R. Murrow interviewed one of my Dodger hero's in his home for the show Person To Person.
Roy Campanella had busted up game three of the World Series with a home run in the bottom of the 8th that day. The bums beat the Yankees 3-2.
Earlier that night I watched "I remember Mama", a great show that featured Dick Van Patten as Nels and Peggy Wood as Mama. Then I watched the Schlitz Playhouse and Our Miss Brooks before the Campenella interview.
You could look it up.
SWC75
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The death of John Pappas. I'm saying that was more significant than the game.
dollarbill44
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Gotcha. I thought you were implying that there was another big story other than the game and the death of Pappas.
