La Verne Players Go on Defense
Breaking their silence about teammate Rollie Dykstra’s injury, four University of La Verne football players defended the school’s care of the senior quarterback and described him as a willing participant before he suffered a serious head injury in a game last month.
“I’m not trying to bash Rollie, but when you strap on the pads and helmet, you know there is danger involved. And he strapped on his helmet,” said Justin Wolfchief, a freshman running back who trailed Dykstra on the option keeper that ended with Dykstra’s injury in a game Oct. 19 against visiting Redlands.
Several La Verne players have grown frustrated, Wolfchief said, with criticism of the school’s handling of Dykstra’s injury by Dykstra’s family and attorney Martin Cervantes. La Verne administrators have cited federal law that prevents them from discussing students, and the result has been a slanted interpretation of actual events, according to Wolfchief and La Verne teammates Ray Delgadillo, Phillip Faulding and Ernesto Rios.
Among the issues they classify as misrepresented:
* The contention that Dykstra was suffering severe headaches during the week before the Redlands game. The players say Dykstra disobeyed a trainer’s request by attempting to practice while wearing a helmet, an act they describe as his “psychological” and “symbolic” display to teammates, coaches and trainers that he was in playing condition.
* The alleged statement by an unnamed player to Cervantes that, as a result of head pain, Dykstra vomited and was “drenching” (sweating profusely) less than two hours before the game. Wolfchief said he overheard Dykstra tell a teammate he’d thrown up because he’d had trouble swallowing some pills, and that his sweating was not excessive.
“I was taking handoffs from him, I would’ve noticed if [the sweating] was bad,” Wolfchief said. “It was a hot day.”
* Cervantes’ description of the tackle that immediately preceded Dykstra’s sideline collapse as “garden variety,” implying a previous head injury had left Dykstra especially vulnerable to serious injury.
“He got hit hard by two guys,” Wolfchief said. “He got stuck hard.”
La Verne Coach Don Morel, informed of the players’ comments, said, “I am confident that when all is said and done, it will be clear that the coaches and trainers at the University of La Verne handled this situation correctly.”
Dykstra, 24, who’d previously played at Division I-AA Florida A&M;, returned to college, and the football field, after a nearly two-year hiatus, emerging as Division III La Verne’s starting quarterback. According to Dykstra’s father, Roland Sr., and his girlfriend, Jennifer Ross, the player was experiencing severe headaches in the weeks before the game against Redlands.
Ross said Dykstra first expressed discomfort to her after he’d been sacked eight times Oct. 5 in a loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. She said Dykstra reported his head was “throbbing” after a 30-6 defeat at Cal Lutheran on Oct. 12.
Ross has said Dykstra told her La Verne trainer Jim May discouraged him from seeking medical attention, citing expense as a factor.
Early in the second quarter against Redlands, Dykstra was tackled on the option run and required assistance to reach the sideline. He collapsed there, then suffered seizures, a locked jaw and labored breathing that required a call for paramedics.
Dykstra emerged from a coma two weeks ago. He is being treated at Loma Linda University Center Rehabilitation Institute. Roland Dykstra Sr. said his son can’t stand on his own and can’t control his left side, but that he can speak sensibly and can feed himself with his right hand. Dykstra could return home as early as January.
Cervantes has said he expects to file a claim against La Verne in Los Angeles County Superior Court for negligence regarding the treatment of Dykstra before and after the injury.
Cervantes acknowledges the central argument of his case is based on why La Verne’s staff, informed of Dykstra’s headache, did not arrange for him to receive in-depth medical examination or treatment from a neurologist before clearing him to play.
“I have become aware that Rollie was set for some [medical] testing at a hospital, either an MRI or a CT scan; that it did not take place [before the Redlands game] and he was told it was not necessary,” Cervantes said. “It looks like this is becoming their side of the story versus our side of the story. There are speculative gaps here. Our hope is that Rollie gets well and fills in those gaps. This comes down to who really talked to Rollie about this, who cleared him to play and why he did not have the test that would have definitively cleared him or not.”
Rios, a fifth-year senior offensive lineman, said, “What they’re not taking into consideration is the mentality of [Dykstra]. He’s a battler, and what it comes down to is, if you’re a football player, you want to be out there on Saturdays. That’s how I think too. I’d rather deal with an injury than go to Jim [May]. If he thinks you’re hurt, he’ll take you out.”
Delgadillo, a defensive lineman, said he was bothered by a leg injury in the week before the Redlands game and was unable to practice. While watching, Delgadillo said, he witnessed an exchange when May noticed Dykstra wearing his helmet and pads:
“May: ‘What are you doing suiting up?’
“Dykstra: ‘I’m fine.’
“May: ‘You can throw the ball, but no contact, and no helmet.’ ”
Said Delgadillo: “Jim May did exactly what he was supposed to do.”
Wolfchief said he also recalled that Dykstra pressed the issue by wearing his helmet.
“I specifically remember an assistant coach asking, ‘They’re letting you wear your helmet out here?’ and Rollie saying, ‘No, I’m just seeing how long they’ll let me play,’ ” Wolfchief said. “That was a player just wanting to play.”
One university administrator, after being told of the players’ comments, said, “These are the things I would love to tell you. This is the stuff that enforces our side of the story. It’s what we’ve been forced to dance around.”
May would not comment about any subject regarding Dykstra.
Delgadillo said May has paid keen attention to concussions and head injuries. He said all La Verne players were checked for concussions personally by May before the season, and he detailed his own treatment after “dinging my head in the first week of practice.
“He gave me a concussion test and wouldn’t let me have any contact or exercise, or even run, for a week and a half,” Delgadillo said. “He gave me the concussion test five times before clearing me.”
Delgadillo said he was not sent to a neurologist or any other outside physician for the injury.
The concussion test used at La Verne is ImPACT concussion management software, a program also used in the NFL and an instrument co-developer Dr. Michael Collins described as “a tool considered the gold standard of care for managing concussions and the measurement of neuropsychological function.” Collins, of the University of Pittsburgh, said a referral to a physician was proper protocol.
“It’s not a panacea,” Collins said of ImPACT. “Concussion is a difficult injury to manage. There are still obvious unknowns, and headache alone does not indicate a concussion. A trainer would look for a whole cadre of other symptoms too -- loss of memory, dizziness, fatigue, sleep problems, sensitivity to light or noise.”
La Verne’s season is over -- the Leopards won their final two games against Chapman and Occidental, finishing 3-6 -- but the difficult questions linger on Dykstra’s injury: What did he tell May? How was his condition treated?
A Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference trainer, asked how headaches are typically handled, answered, “It depends, case by case.”
“That’s the problem with this,” said another SCIAC trainer who requested anonymity. “Of the two people who know those exact answers, one is hospitalized and can’t talk, and the other is being told not to talk.”
Said Wolfchief: “We’ve said a prayer for Rollie every day since he was hurt. I consider him a brother and I want him to be OK. But Jim May has gone through a lot of [adversity] and he doesn’t deserve to be blamed.”
