Death Strikes Player for Indoor League

There were ice-skating lessons for children and preteen boys gearing up for hockey practice at the Santa Fe Station ice arena Monday night, little to indicate the frantic scene that unfolded one day earlier when a defensive lineman died playing for a second-tier indoor football league.

Curtis Jones, 35, who had scored a touchdown just before halftime Sunday for the Utah Lyonzz of the United States Inside Football League, collapsed inside the locker room after his team lost the game.

Despite efforts to revive him, he was declared dead shortly after being taken to a nearby hospital, officials said.

Jones is believed to have suffered cardiac arrest, although autopsy results are pending, officials said.

“After the game, he just collapsed into the arms of some of the other players,” team owner Michael Curran told Associated Press on Monday as he fought back tears. “We’re all in shock, as you can imagine. We’re emotionally ravaged. It’s a nightmare.”

Jones, a father of four, played tight end at the University of Utah from 1985-88 and was an assistant coach at Granger High School in Salt Lake City, where he also taught special education.

He played fullback and on the defensive line for the Lyonzz. He loved football so much that he kept playing into his mid-30s, holding a key role on defense.

Those who knew him said he could often be found in the gym, working out. Teammates nicknamed him “Franchise.”

“He was trying to catch on with some NFL teams,” Utah Coach Ron McBride, a Ute assistant when Jones played there, told the AP.

The death immediately raised questions--as well as contradictions--about the level of care Jones received both off the field and within the league. Lester Johnson, a linebacker with the opposing Northwest Fire, told the Las Vegas Sun that no medical personnel was on hand at the arena, and that the USIFL does not require players to undergo physical exams.

Chris Boudreaux, president of the USIFL, acknowledged that the league does not require player physicals, and said it is up to coaches to decide whether players are fit.

“What happens is that coaches look at the players, simple stuff,” he said. “If the coaches think there’s a question about a player, they’re going to waive him until there’s proof he can play.”

But he said on-site paramedics treated Jones seconds after his collapse.

According to witnesses, Jones was sitting in the No. 2 locker room--barren except for five wooden benches and broken brass hooks along the wall--when he stood up, steadied himself against the wall, told a teammate he was feeling dizzy and then crumpled to the floor, Boudreaux said.

Players called out for security personnel and on-site emergency technicians, he said.

“It wasn’t 30 seconds, and they were on him,” Boudreaux said of emergency workers. Later, at the hospital, doctors said there was nothing that could have been done to save Jones.

Jones was taken by ambulance to Mountain View Hospital in Las Vegas.

“They tried to revive him on the field, but his heart had stopped by the time he got here,” spokeswoman Claire Damon said. Coroner’s office spokesman Ron Flud said an official cause of death will not be determined for two weeks or more.

The coroner said Jones measured at 6 feet 6 and 276 pounds.

Jones’ was the fifth in a recent string of football player deaths.

Northwestern safety Rashidi Wheeler, who played at La Verne Damien High, collapsed during conditioning drills Friday and died soon after.

Minnesota Viking lineman Korey Stringer died of heatstroke Wednesday.

Travis Stowers, a 17-year-old high school player in Indiana, also died Wednesday after collapsing in practice the previous afternoon.

And on July 25, University of Florida running back Eraste Autin died of heatstroke complications related to a July 20 workout.

The Fire beat the Lyonzz, 35-21, in a playoff game before Jones was stricken. The USIFL has six teams in Nevada, Utah and California.

The 1,200-seat arena where the game was played is climate-controlled and the temperature was in the mid-to-upper 70s Sunday night, officials said.