Searching for Answers in the Wake of a Player’s Death

Anyone who wants to become a high school football coach had better understand that responsibilities have expanded far beyond the required knowledge of Xs and Os.

Recognizing and identifying player injuries is as much a coach’s job as the team doctor’s or trainer’s because, rightor wrong, it’s the coach who will assume the heaviest burden when tragedy occurs.

Joel Schaeffer, who coached for 23 years at Reseda High until retiring this season, still suffers from the death of Eric Hoggatt, who died in his sleep after a Reseda game in 1996.

“It’s not something you ever prepare for,” he said. “A lot of times, a coach is not allowed to grieve himself because you’re so tied up dealing with your own team. It’s a terrible thing for a coach to go through. It’s a trauma. There’s the finger pointing--what if? You never stop dealing with it.”

Hoggatt was examined by a doctor and sent home after the game. An autopsy determined he’d suffered from a buildup of blood inside the skull. Hoggatt’s death wasn’t Schaeffer’s fault, but Schaeffer said, “Once you step onto the field, you take responsibility for everybody.”

Costa Mesa Coach Dave Perkins is the latest to face the worst-case scenario after the death of defensive end Matt Colby Saturday.

Colby died at UCI Medical Center after collapsing during a game against Huntington Beach Ocean View Friday night.

Colby appeared to have suffered an injury during a kickoff four minutes into the game. He remained in the game for a few plays on defense before coming out and complaining that he felt tingling in his head and legs. He lost consciousness a short time later.

Perkins said Colby had complained of headaches after games against Westminster on Sept. 15 and Centennial of Canada on Sept 21. He said Colby went to a doctor and received clearance to play.

Although it’s unclear exactly what happened to Colby, this much is certain: It’s imperative that everyone, from players to parents to coaches to trainers to doctors, communicate in the most straightforward fashion in dealing with head injuries.

The old way of taking an aspirin for a headache is no solution.

Back in the 1960s, when Bob Francola was training to become a football coach, the main focus of a college class he took on the prevention and care of athletic injuries was learning to tape ankles.

“That was our medical training,” he said.

Coaches today must be certified in CPR and first aid. Even more important, they have to understand warning signs associated with head injuries, such as headaches, nausea and dizziness.

“We’ve had to change with changing times,” said Francola, coach at Granada Hills Kennedy High.

Three Kennedy players had “foggy heads” after playing against Carson two weeks ago. The team doctor ordered them to refrain from contact in practice the following week and ordered them not to play in the next game if they had any headaches or dizziness.

“In the old days, I don’t know if that would be done,” Francola said.

Rule changes and improvement in helmets have reduced head injuries nationwide in the last 25 years, but deaths still occur, as does the debate over how to deal with concussions.

Coaches are smartly putting the burden on medical personnel to decide who plays after an injury.

“The team doctors and trainer have the say who plays and who doesn’t and don’t get any feedback from me,” said Coach Dave White of Huntington Beach Edison. “We had a kid get dinged the other night and he was done. The kid still wanted to play.”

But coaches can’t leave a player’s health concerns solely with the team doctor. They have to be involved because they can spot symptoms during practice that others miss, and they are crucial to convincing players to reveal the true extent of an injury.

“Every kid is different,” White said. “Some kids’ pain tolerance is low, some high. Some kids always say they’re OK. There’s a difference between being injured and hurting yourself. Every athlete has played with pain. Hopefully, you communicate with your players and they believe you when you tell them you want them to give an honest answer.”

Sometimes deaths occur in sports that can’t be explained. All anyone can do is learn from the tragedy, comfort those who are hurting and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.