Boy, 16, Dies After Being Hit by Discus

An affable, outgoing Palos Verdes Peninsula High School sophomore accidentally struck by a flying discus during warmups for a track meet died Wednesday from the brain injury, hospital officials said.

Craig Kelford III, 16, was pronounced dead at Torrance Memorial Medical Center at 1:10 p.m. after being on life support for nearly 20 hours after the incident at the Peninsula High football field. His family, at an afternoon news conference, said his vital organs would be donated for transplants so that his death would prolong others’ lives.

Kelford was walking about 70 feet outside the discus throwing area when the 2 1/8-pound saucer-like object thrown by a student from North High School in Torrance struck him in the back of the head, leaving him unconscious Tuesday afternoon.

Sheriff’s deputies and paramedics were called to the scene, where they found Kelford, who was a discus thrower himself, on the ground, with no pulse and unable to breathe. The discus had reportedly flown about 100 feet before striking the teenager.

At the hospital news conference shortly after his son was pronounced dead, Kelford’s father, Craig Kelford II, said that paramedics had revived his son’s heartbeat in the ambulance, but that, in the end, the youth could not be saved.

“We’re grateful that his organs will be able to be used to help seven other people,” Kelford said.

The elder Kelford, a missionary, said he and his family are turning to God to make sense of the tragedy.

“We’re praising the Lord for the good times we had with him,” said Kelford’s mother, Carolyn, a longtime math teacher at Peninsula High. “It was a good 16 years. We don’t understand this accident, but we trust the Lord has a plan for us.”

School officials said Peninsula’s junior varsity boys track and field team was practicing for the meet when Kelford, a team member, was hit by the discus.

Proper safety measures had been taken, said Jon Knickerbocker, deputy superintendent of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District.

“It was a tragedy, a freak accident,” he said. Safety has long been a concern regarding discus throwing at Southland high schools. The California Interscholastic Federation banned the discus event from 1932 until 1962 because most schools lacked proper safeguards.

Though many school districts have since added the sport, some, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, still do not have discus events at most of their meets.

“The failure to ensure safety is still why we don’t have the discus event in any of our conference meets,” said Barbara Fiege, an athletic commissioner for the Los Angeles district.

Dean Crowley, CIF Southern Section commissioner, said the agency recommends that schools hold discus events outside the main field of competition. He said he believes that about 90% of schools comply.

Crowley said he spoke Wednesday morning with Peninsula Athletic Director John Barr and asked that school officials compile a complete report on the incident.

Kelford’s death is the third among high school athletes in Southern California this school year. In September, two local football players died from hits sustained during games.

Torrance officials did not release the name of the discus thrower, but said that he was “taking it very hard.” Grief counselors were sent to help track team members at both schools cope with the incident.

Kelford’s parents said that they bear no ill feelings toward the school or the student who had hurled the discus and that they hope school officials do not remove the event from their track and field program.

“That would really make Craig unhappy if he were still here,” said Kelford’s father. “Besides, he’s such a big boy, he couldn’t run worth a darn. He would probably say something like, ‘Keep your head up.’ ”

Friends and relatives Wednesday remembered Kelford as a loving teenager who liked to participate in sports, got good grades and spent much of his time “worshiping the Lord.” The amiable youngster took two trips to the Philippines to do missionary work with his congregation, Rolling Hills Covenant Church, worked part time at a Christian bookstore in Torrance and was active in his church’s 300-member youth group.

“He was a kid with a great heart,” said Dianne Lewis, a Spanish teacher at Peninsula High. “He was really responsible and really good at everything he did.”

Craig’s sister, Karin, who threw the discus on the track team alongside her younger brother last year, said he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Karin, 18, who flew in Tuesday night from Texas Christian College in Fort Worth upon hearing about the accident, said she will particularly miss the long conversations they shared.

“He was my best friend,” she said.