Family Plans to Sue Over Darling Death

After a grueling 63 minutes, there was only one drill left for Devaughn Darling. Some among the 21 other Florida State football players had heard the freshman linebacker complain about chest pains during the off-season workout last February.

But the coaching staff and trainers heard nothing. Darling was not one to complain.

So when he struggled through the final exercise of the day and was told to do it again, he obeyed without protest.

He dropped to his left, got up, dropped to his right, got up, hit the floor chest first, got up and made his way over to a nearby wall where he collapsed.

One hour and 23 minutes later, Devaughn Darling was dead.

Six months later, the Darling family has notified the school of its intent to sue, claiming Florida State University officials were guilty of negligence.

“In our opinion, these drills as performed are dangerous to the players in the way they are operated,” Darling attorney Michael Lewis said.

“Those running the drills did not know how to respond to people obviously in some type of distress. It should be the position of those running the drills to take affirmative action and to halt the drills so that a player in need can receive treatment.

“Devaughn Darling exhibited all the warning signs, but they were ignored.”

In a letter sent to the university, Lewis wrote that Darling “experienced exhaustion, dizziness and other signs of extreme fatigue.”

He also charged Darling “was deprived of water and/or other fluids during these drills.”

An autopsy revealed the presence of two drugs in Darling’s system, ephedrine, banned by the NCAA, and acetaminophen, both found in over-the-counter cold medication, which the autopsy confirmed Darling had taken.

Randy Oravetz, Florida State’s head trainer, says Darling’s twin brother, Devard, told Oravetz he had given Devaughn cold tablets.

Darling had been suffering from a cold in the days before his death.

Ephedrine was in supplements ingested by two football players who recently died, Rashidi Wheeler of Northwestern, and Curtis Jones, who played arena football.

A sheet handed out to players at the University of Florida--where freshman Eraste Autin collapsed and died last month after an on-campus workout--warns: “Do not work outside in extreme heat if you are taking antihistamines [allergy or cold medicine] ... “ No ephedrine was found in Autin’s system.

On the first day of training camp this summer, Florida State players were presented with a list of 33 substances banned by the NCAA, ephedrine among them.

Said Lewis of the Darling case, “We do not believe [ephedrine] was a factor.”

There are links between the Darling and Wheeler cases:

* Although it was ruled Wheeler’s death was caused by exercise-induced bronchial asthma, the Wheeler family has sued, charging negligence on the school’s part.

* At the request of Northwestern attorneys, all pathology samples from Wheeler will be preserved. “We are asserting the amount of ephedra [Wheeler] consumed has been associated with various adverse effects,” said Northwestern spokesman Alan Cubbage.

* The Rev. Jesse Jackson is the Wheeler’s family spokesman. Jackson’s own attorney is Willie E. Gary, whose Florida law firm is representing the Darlings.

Another factor investigated in Darling’s death was the presence of a sickle cell trait in his blood.

“Thousands of athletes compete daily at all levels of competition with sickle cell trait,” the Tallahassee medical examiner wrote. “To our knowledge, no high school, college or professional sports program excludes athletes with sickle cell trait from participating in any sport.”

Said Lewis, “We do not believe the sickle cell trait was a factor that led to the death of Devaughn Darling. We are taking the posture that it was almost thrown out there like a red herring.”

An investigation by the Florida State University police department concluded “there is no cause to believe that any action or lack of action contributed to or caused the death of Mr. Darling.”

Lewis said the lapse between Darling’s death and the notice to sue was to allow the Darling family time to conduct its own investigation.

Richard McFarlain, general counsel at Florida State, would say only there was “an interesting time line” between the death and the legal action.

Lewis now has a six-month window before he needs to take further legal action.

“Hopefully,” he said, “[settlement] negotiations will begin in earnest without any further delay.”

Lewis would not name a settlement figure that would satisfy the family.

Players at Florida State speak of Coach Bobby Bowden’s mat drills with dread. .

“They told us it would be the hardest thing we would ever have to do at Florida State,” offensive tackle Ray Willis said, “the hardest part about being a Seminole, and that’s an understatement. They told us, ‘It’s what sets you apart.’ They didn’t tell us about it when they were recruiting us.”

Mat drills, so-called because they are conducted on mats indoors at the Moore Athletic Center, are held over a 10-day period in late February, beginning at about 5:45 each morning. They have been a part of the Florida State program since Bowden took over in 1976.

Players are divided into three groups--skill positions, linebackers/fullbacks and linemen--and are put through three drills consisting of straight running, specialized running through ropes or side to side, and rolling, tumbling agility exercises. Each group spends 21 minutes at each station.

Banners around the room remind the players what they are aching and sweating for. One sign reads, “Building a dynasty.” Another, “Simply the Best.”

Finally, after a little more than an hour of concentrated activity, a horn mercifully blares to end the session.

“I was ready to quit,” linebacker Michael Boulware said, “but D.D. [Darling] would say, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go again.’ It made me a better person.”

Darling, a star linebacker at Austin High School in Fort Bend, Texas, a Houston suburb, had played in every game in his first season as a Seminole, mostly on special teams. He was credited with 11 tackles and considered good enough to be the leading candidate for strong-side linebacker this season.

But first Darling had to get through mat drills, and it didn’t go well for him from the beginning. An ankle injury in an early session caused Darling to miss two days. So when the players reported for the seventh session Feb. 26, with four assistant coaches and 16 training-staff members also in attendance, it was only Darling’s fifth time on the mats. That didn’t appear to make it easier.

“He seemed like he was the most out of breath,” Willis said. “It seemed to take more out of him than anybody.”

Later that day, offensive lineman Bobby Meeks would tell Houston television station KRIV that Darling “was complaining to the players, ‘It’s like my chest is hurting.’ It was like [the players were saying] I don’t want to hear it or whatever.

“They [the trainers] told him to get on the mat and he went on and did it, did the drills without complaining to anybody, to the coaches about he’s tired or his chest is hurting. He finished the drills.”

When the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Darling collapsed, his teammates didn’t immediately think the worst.

“At first you think it’s not that big a deal,” Boulware said. “You’ve seen players collapse or throw up before.”

Darling was put in a sitting position, but his breathing remained labored and irregular.

“I’ve seen kids suffering from exhaustion, throwing up, having asthma problems, but they always come back,” Oravetz said. “You see kids all tired, grabbing at their shorts. You see a lot of guys with that look. Some guys just quit.”

Antoine Mirambeau, 6-4, 280, lifted Darling and carried him downstairs.

The players, becoming aware that something terrible had happened, knelt in prayer. The 18-year-old Darling was immediately taken to the training room where Oravetz tended to him.

But Oravetz quickly realized something horrifying was happening, something he hadn’t previously encountered in a quarter-century in training rooms. “His breathing pattern was just not right,” Oravetz said of Darling. “Then his eyes rolled back in his head.”

The trainer called 911 and administered CPR. Campus police arrived, soon followed by an ambulance. Darling was taken to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, but it was too late.

He had collapsed at 7:14.

He was pronounced dead at 8:37.

Devard Darling, a wide receiver, was there taking part in the mat drills when his brother died.

Because a definitive cause of death has not been established and because Devard also has the sickle cell trait, Florida State would not give him medical clearance to continue playing football.

After getting his release from the school and checking out USC, Tennessee and Purdue, Darling has enrolled at Washington State.

School officials there are not permitting Darling to speak to the media until the admission process is complete.

Darling hopes to get medical clearance from Washington State doctors and permission from the NCAA to play football for the Cougars this season.

“We don’t want to put him on the football field if he is at risk like his brother,” said Rod Commons, Washington State assistant athletic director. “What if his brother was killed by something totally unrelated to sickle cell trait? That makes a big difference.

“Due to the fact that they were identical twin brothers, we are obviously going to look at this a lot more closely.”