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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Letter From the Publisher

Looking for a Silver Lining...
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Storm clouds gathered over the landscape of football. The first effects were felt in Tallahassee in February when freshman linebacker Devaughn Darling died after a strenuous off-season workout. Then, on July 25, incoming University of Florida freshman fullback Eraste Autin died six days after he collapsed following a voluntary workout. As if these tragedies were not enough to make everyone associated with the game of football look hard at the types of workout programs athletes are participating in, next came the shocking heat-related death of Minnesota Viking All-Pro lineman Korey Stringer. Finally, on August 3, Northwestern defensive back Rashidi Wheeler died after a workout in what the coroner said was an asthma related attack.

Like everyone else, I tried to make sense out of the sadness; it was impossible. I could not bear hearing the words of Darling's mother or read the words from Autin's father, a physician who blamed no one. The loss of Korey Stringer was brought home to me in the morning newspaper as I looked into the faces of his wife Kelcie and three year-old son, Kodie.

Yet, I knew that the self-proclaimed cognoscenti would begin to place blame on the sport of football for being too tough, too demanding, operating "voluntary" workouts in incendiary conditions, and failing to take adequate precautions. But, I knew this was coming, and come it did as sportswriter after sportswriter bludgeoned his keyboard excoriating FSU, Florida and Minnesota for negligence and worse. Every radio talk show host seemed ready to accuse coaches of being barbarians or worse.

As surely as I knew the accusations would start to fly, I knew coaches across this country are more than aware of the seriousness of heat strokes and heat related problems. Long gone are the days of lack of knowledge of the need for proper hydration. For example, we have had at least three separate articles on the topic in our magazine over the years. Coaches care about their players and would never willingly place a single athlete in harm's way. But, these three deaths were cause for alarm, and I struggled with what it all meant and how I could help.

Two days after Korey Stringer's death I received a call that brought a little relief to me and made me more than certain that in some corner of heaven, Korey, Devaughn, Rashidi and Eraste must be nodding their heads and know they did not die in vain or without a legacy.

My childhood and high school best friend called to tell me of his first days coaching his 11-year old son in fifth grade football. The boy is a good athlete and would give it his all no matter what the circumstances. However, with his Dad as the coach, he was giving it more than the proverbial 110%. He was full-out sprinting on 3/4 drills and was attempting to win every gasser at the end of practice. Near the end of that first day, the young man fell over from exhaustion and began to throw up and hyperventilate. Everyone immediately stopped practice, got the boy fluids, wrapped him in ice-soaked towels and he was taken to the hospital. All was well, but out of an abundance of caution, he did not practice the next day.

I would like to think all of those things would have happened without the deaths of Darling, Stringer, Wheeler and Autin. But I cannot say for sure. That fact both bothers me and makes me see the silver lining in the clouds of unexplained death.

Every year hundreds of Americans die due to heat related illness at construction sites, in parks and playgrounds and sometimes in backyards. Each of these is a tragedy that does not find its way to the front page of the newspaper or on ESPN. So, if our national consciousness has been raised, then Autin, Stringer, Wheeler and Darling are names that will serve a purpose and live on as a resounding song of precaution, prevention, information and awareness.

Sincerely,

Barry Terranova






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