A Mississippi coroner says the death of a high school football player on the field during a game was caused by a form of heart failure. Â Read more after the jump.
Jackson County coroner Vicki Broadus said Saturday that Latrell “Fred” Dunbar of D’Iberville High School suffered what was listed as “an acute cardiac event.”
What triggered it was not known. Broadus said in a telephone interview that there was no sign of an injury on the field that led to his death. And there is no indication of an underlying health problem that might have brought on the heart failure.
Dunbar, a junior running back, was pronounced dead at an Ocean Springs hospital Friday night after collapsing during a football game at Gautier High School.
D’Iberville coach Buddy Singleton, who watched a video replay, told the Biloxi Sun Herald that Dunbar appeared to get hit on the shoulder from the side as he was blocking.
“You could see him kind of stumble and he fell,” Singleton told the newspaper. “I don’t think he ever regained consciousness after that.”
Dunbar had transferred to D’Iberville last year when the family moved from Baton Rouge, Singleton said, according to the Sun Herald.
“He showed me his report card yesterday. He had 3 A’s and a C,” he told the newspaper. “He was a good student, good athlete. Everybody liked him. He always had a smile on his face. An all-American kid.”
