Prep Players, Coaches Shocked, Saddened : Day After Copeland’s Death, San Pedro, Dorsey Football Teams Mourn

In the aftermath of the death of a Dorsey High School football star Friday night in San Pedro, those involved were in a state of mourning and shock.

Kevin Copeland, an All-City receiver for Dorsey, died apparently of heart failure shortly after collapsing on the sideline during a game against San Pedro. He was 17.

“We’re all deeply saddened,” said Mike Walsh, defensive coordinator for San Pedro. “I don’t know how the kids will rebound from something like this. It makes you realize that all our lives are (hanging) on a thread.”

Walsh usually watches game films on Saturday mornings, but this day was different.

“It’s tough to get going right now,” he said. “Everybody has to try and pull together.”

Walsh said he and several other coaches were at San Pedro Peninsula Hospital when Copeland was pronounced dead at 9:20 p.m. Friday. Nursing supervisor Jean Simmons said Copeland was in full cardiac arrest when he was admitted.

Hospital emergency personnel tried to resuscitate Copeland for 45 minutes but were unsuccessful, officials said.

“There were quite a few Dorsey people there,” Walsh said. “It was like any other scene where a young person in the prime of life dies. I wouldn’t call it hysteria. It was mourning, total sadness.”

Walsh said several San Pedro players and their parents went to the hospital. Most of the Dorsey players were not told of the death until their bus returned to the West Central Los Angeles school later Friday night.

A number of City football coaches are collecting donations to aid Copeland’s mother, Millicent, who also lost her husband, Ron, when he died after collapsing while running in 1975.

“Kevin was an outstanding athlete and an outstanding person,” said Crenshaw High School Coach Robert Garrett, who knew Copeland since he attended Audubon Junior High School. “I feel for Kevin and his family.”

Said San Pedro’s Walsh: “The city is concerned. You hate to see anything like that happen. You never think it’s going to happen at one of your games.”

Copeland, considered one of the state’s best receivers, could not be revived by paramedics after collapsing on the Dorsey sideline with 2:28 left in the first quarter. He came out of the game after reportedly helping to tackle San Pedro’s Herb Whitaker, who had intercepted a pass.

Dorsey Coach Paul Knox told the Associated Press he thought Copeland was one of three Dorsey players to make the tackle after the interception.

“I didn’t see him involved in the tackle,” San Pedro’s Walsh said. “I didn’t know what had happened until one of our coaches (assistant Paul Bryan) came over and said he thought (Copeland) was dead.

“I saw Copeland, four plays before that, return the kickoff. I saw him get hit on the kickoff return. He didn’t get hit in the head. It looked like a routine, rough tackle.”

As defensive coordinator, Walsh said he was concerned with how to stop the 5-foot-11, 170-pound Copeland.

“He was probably the best (high school) receiver I’d ever seen on film in all my years of coaching,” he said. “If there is somebody better, I’d like to see him. I went to scout him last week in Dorsey’s game at Point Loma, and he caught a touchdown pass with no time left. He was phenomenal.

“I saw the films of their game with Bell Gardens. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown, which was called back, and he returned a punt for a touchdown. He scored another touchdown on a (pass reception). We were so concerned with his talent that we planned to double-cover him all night, which we don’t do to too many people.

“It’s a great loss for football, the school, his family . . . I think for the whole city.”

Walsh said he did not know if the game, which was canceled after Copeland collapsed with San Pedro leading, 7-0, would be replayed or continued at a later date.

“We felt the kids and the coaches were not in condition to continue,” San Pedro High Principal Joe Viola said. “I don’t see how we could have continued to play.”

Copeland last year was selected to the All-City Section team and was a sprinter on the school track team.

His older brother, Ron Jr., is a sophomore high hurdler at the USC and was the 1987 City champion in the event at Dorsey.

“(Kevin) was an exceptional athlete, a very caring person about people, a good student,” family friend Charles Parker told ABC-TV. “I just believe that Kevin was the type of young man that America aspires all their sons to be like.”

Times staff writer Lonnie White contributed to this story.