Team Is on Bus When Driver Dies

The driver of a bus carrying the Florida State baseball team died of an apparent heart attack as the bus hurtled along Highway 101 at 70 mph Thursday afternoon.

Team coaches were able to control the bus and steer it safely to the shoulder, a school spokesman said. None of the passengers was injured.

“I mean, really, if it ever happened again, I would say the next nine times out of 10 we would have been in an accident,” said Florida State spokesman Jeff Purinton, who was on the charter bus. “It’s pretty amazing that it turned out like it did.”

The team was several miles north of San Francisco International airport, heading north to eat lunch in downtown San Francisco, when at about 1:10 p.m. coaches saw the driver slump over the wheel, Purinton said.

The driver, James Ragland of East Palo Alto, an employee of Peninsula Charter Lines, was dead when he arrived at Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center, Brisbane fire department Capt. Dave Rosenlund said.

Purinton described the scene as passengers realized the danger.

Head coach Mike Martin took the driver’s foot off the gas pedal while third base coach Chip Baker sat in his lap to steer.

Once Baker got the bus to the shoulder, a student called 911 from a cell phone.

About 35 players and coaches were aboard, Purinton said. The team is in the area to play three games against Stanford, starting today.

Ragland leaves behind three daughters, four sons, 18 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.