Author Helps Cover Costs of Funeral for Football Player : San Fernando: William Peter Blatty gives $3,000 to high school’s memorial fund so family of Sergio Echevarria can bury him in Mexico.

A noted author’s generosity will cover the bulk of the funeral expenses for San Fernando High School football player Sergio Echevarria, who died last week of heatstroke after practicing in 102-degree weather.

William Peter Blatty of Hidden Hills, who wrote “The Exorcist,” gave $3,000 to help pay for the youth’s burial in Mexico.

Other efforts, including collections taken by the school football team and school officials, raised an added $485.

The fund-raising effort started when members of the school football team took up a collection for their teammate’s funeral.

“They just gave whatever they had--quarters in some cases,” football Coach Tom Hernandez said.

The team collected $120, far short of the $3,000 the Echevarrias needed to ship Sergio’s body home to Michoacan, Mexico, for the funeral. The youth’s father, auto mechanic Vicente Echevarria, said he would have to sell his pickup truck to cover the burial costs.

School officials then established a memorial fund Tuesday in the faint hope of raising a few hundred dollars for Sergio.

Their hopes were surpassed when checks arrived--ranging from $5, to $3,000 from Blatty. Blatty contributed because “his 15-year-old son plays football, so he really feels for the parents,” said Blatty’s assistant, Patti Ullman.

“Thank you so much,” said Sergio’s aunt, Sylvia Perez, in Spanish. “These are people with good hearts.”

The money will enable the Echevarrias, who were in Mexico for the funeral Wednesday, to repay a loan from Sergio’s godparents without having to sell their truck, Perez said.

Although members of the high school football team could not afford to donate much, the Tigers wore black ribbons in honor of their teammate this week. They also plan to remember Sergio by sewing patches on their uniforms with his jersey number--63--said team member Noe Avila, 16.

“The whole season is going to be dedicated to him,” Avila said.

Sergio collapsed after a football practice that was shortened from 2 1/2 hours to 45 minutes because of the heat, Hernandez said. The coach and two assistants were watching the 65 players, who were not wearing pads, and no one seemed overly tired, Hernandez said.

Assistant Principal Paul Swanson said Hernandez had “used good judgment” by shortening practice and that the session fell within a school district policy--adopted in May--of avoiding heat stress during school activities in hot weather. The policy calls for school officials to use “extreme caution” in supervising students’ physical activities when the temperature exceeds 95 degrees. If the relative humidity is below 50%, activities can continue if they are limited in duration and intensity and are closely monitored.

Swanson said Wednesday that no practices will take place without consultations between administrators and coaches if the temperature exceeds 95 degrees. He said officials have difficulty determining the humidity levels, but are investigating whether to purchase instruments to measure it.