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Illinois. High School Running Back Collapses On Field, Dies

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  • Illinois. High School Running Back Collapses On Field, Dies

    [Original article: http://cbs2chicago.com/local/footbal...2.1165970.html ]

    Sep 5, 2009 10:08 am US/Central

    High School Running Back Collapses On Field, Dies - Quaashi Chandler Suffered Asthma Attack During Game

    BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ―


    With 41 seconds remaining in a varsity football game in southwest suburban Bolingbrook Friday night, Curie High School senior running back Quaashi Chandler collapsed on the sideline due to an apparent asthma attack.

    Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital spokeswoman Julie Busch confirmed that Chandler, a senior at Curie, at 4959 S. Archer Ave. in Chicago, died on Friday night after collapsing during a varsity football game.

    Play stopped with 41.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter when the 5-foot-8-inch, 175-pound running back/defensive back fell to the sideline at Bolingbrook High School. Representatives of both teams gathered near the player.

    Emergency services arrived and administered CPR, then took him to the southwest suburban hospital while players lined up for the postgame walk-through.

    A woman near the ambulance, who was being consoled by another woman, said "This is my baby. You cannot tell me that I cannot ride with him."

    Chandler, who suffered from asthma, was pronounced dead at the hospital. Busch said the hospital was not at liberty to comment on the cause of death or the time of death.

    Players, coaches and administrators were in tears on the field and would not immediately comment on the situation, including Bolingbrook athletic director Alec Anderson.

    "They used everything in their (medical) bin to help the kid out," said Bolingbrook coach John Ivlow via cell phone, unsure of Chandler's fate at the time.

    At the hospital, a teary-eyed Tyson LeBlanc told The Naperville Sun about "one of our toughest players."

    "There's not a lot in the coaching manual or the coaching clinics that prepare you for something like this," said LeBlanc, Curie's head coach. "To be honest, I don't know what you can say to 16- to 17-year-old kids who just lost their best friend. This is not something I would wish on my worst enemy."

    Curie supporters assembled in the hospital's chapel after the pronouncement. Players and coaches left at 12:35 a.m. Only immediate family remained.

    Bolingbrook won the shortened game 40-6.

    This is not the first time that an asthma attack on a football field has proved deadly in the Chicago area. Back on Aug. 3, 2001, Northwestern Wildcats football player Rashidi Wheeler, 22, collapsed and died after participating in a conditioning drill. His family later settled with Northwestern for $16 million.

    The STNG Wire contributed to this report.
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