High school football coach charged in HS player's death-Heat Related

[RamboLiberal]

A popular Kentucky high school football coach is being arraigned Monday on a reckless homicide charge in the heat-exhaustion-related death of one of his players.

A grand jury indicted Pleasure Ridge Park football coach Jason Stinson on Thursday in the death of Max Gilpin, 15.

The player collapsed August 20 during a summer practice and died three days later.

"It's a sad day," Stinson told supporters gathered on his lawn to pray Saturday, CNN affiliate WHAS reported. "My heart is broken. Part of my life has been taken away. I no longer teach, and I no longer coach at the school that I love."

The case has stirred strong feelings beyond the Louisville, Kentucky, suburb where Gilpin died. Some say the teen's death was a tragic accident; others insist it was the result of a criminal act.

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And here is what I think is the key to the case. Gilpin's body temperature reached 107 degrees and witnesses said Stinson denied the student water on the hot August day, WLKY reported. Gilpin was rushed to an area hospital where he later died.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/26/football.coach.indicted/

After all that is known these days about heat, hydration, etc. I think its inexcusable how many still die on the playing fields.

[Orrex]

1. That poor kid!

Very sad for him and his family.

[ogneopasno]

2. Very true. When Minnesota Vikings player Corey Stringer died several years ago during camp, I

figured maybe that would ensure most people would be educated.

[RamboLiberal]

14. This story today about Korey Stringer's widow settling lawsuit

The widow of Minnesota Vikings lineman Korey Stringer reached a settlement with the NFL over his heatstroke death during training camp in 2001.

Under an agreement with Kelci Stringer, the NFL will support her efforts to create a heat illness prevention program.

No other terms of the settlement announced Monday by a family spokesman were released.

Kelci Stringer had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the league, claiming the NFL hadn't done enough to ensure that equipment used by players protected them from injuries or deaths caused by heat-related illnesses.

"We were able to find what we feel is a very fair settlement that helped us move to the next step," said James Gould, a spokesman for the family who also was Korey Stringer's agent.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/01/26/sports/s131347S17.DTL&tsp=1

[BOSSHOG]

3. Lord that takes me back

The summers of 70 and 71 in the Arkansas summer heat, the coaches gave us Salt Pills for Criminy sakes.

"Denied Water?" Thats freaking insane.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Boys that age don't want to look like wussies, especially in football--

combine that with a coach who's so idiotic he doesn't recognize the signs of heat exhaustion/heat stroke and doesn't understand the importance of water and rest periods, and that's your tragedy in the making.

[hvn_nbr_2]

5. Sounds like that coach still believes the training dogma of 40 years ago.

When I was in high school in the 1960s, we weren't allowed to drink water till a half hour after track practice. Toughens you up, ya know. Guess that coach still believes it.

[RamboLiberal]

7. I saw it in the martial arts - had an old school Master from Korea

Who didn't believe in giving students breaks and the dojang was not air-conditioned with poor airflow and wouldn't let students roll up their sleeves.

When I taught after I got a black belt I would get yelled at by him for letting the students take frequent water breaks - but I didn't care cause I'd rather do that than have a student go down with heat exaustion or worst.

I also let the students roll up their sleeves or horrors of horrors train in a t-shirt without the do-bauk top in the heat when I wasn't teaching in the main school.

[ljm2002]

6. Based on the coach's response...

..."It's a sad day," Stinson told supporters gathered on his lawn to pray Saturday, CNN affiliate WHAS reported. "My heart is broken. Part of my life has been taken away. I no longer teach, and I no longer coach at the school that I love."

My take is that he's a narcissistic, heartless bastard and I hope he gets at least some punishment, based on a fair trial and a hearing of all the facts.

For him to make it all about HIM and what HE has lost -- geez, what an asshole.

[Siwsan]

11. My dad had a player die, on the field,

It happened during a scrimmage. Not due to heat exhaustion - it was a brain aneurysm. I was very young, but can still remember how deeply this affected my dad - absolutely broke his heart. To a degree, he blamed himself, even though there was NO way he could have known about his player's condition. However, never, at any point, did he feel sorry for himself or expect others to.

[ljm2002]

16. That is terrible...

...the kind of thing that can affect a person for the rest of their life. It sounds like your father is a compassionate and caring person, unlike what the coach in this case sounds like.

[tularetom]

8. In 1959 I quit football at our community college because the coach was just like Stinson

A fucking asshole who wouldn't let us have water in 105 degree temperatures. And we had a lot of farm boys on the team who routinely worked all summer in that heat. I Spent my summer tossing bales of hay around and I thought I was in pretty good shape. That was the dark ages compared to now in terms of what was known but it was inexcusable even then.

I believe Mr Stinson should be prosecuted for negligent homicide.

[Diane R]

9. Good. Some of those high school coaches are sadists. They need to be held accountable.

[Chulanowa]

10. Well, they're the ones getting the lion's share of school funding, most often

So they feel justified in being narcissist assholes

[Lex]

12. Is this the coach who said, "Everyone will run laps until somebody drops."

Might be another coach I'm thinking of that got into trouble.

[sarge43]

13. That poor kid died of heatstroke, not exhaustion.

Any temperature over 106F is stroke. The temperature controls of his body broke down. The symptoms of heatstroke are pronounced and visible.

He was allowed to supervise those kids without thorough training in basic first aid? If he did have the training, then he allowed that boy to die. Either case, a crime was committed.

[Blue_Tires]

15. ignorant quasi-tough bear bryant wannabe....