Curtis High School football player dies after collapsing at practice in Staten Island A high school football player died Monday after he collapsed on his Staten Island field during practice, shortly after running sprints, his family said. Miles Kirkland-Thomas, a 16-year-old defensive tackle who was set to start his junior year, was ordered to do wind sprints after showing up late for the Curtis High School varsity football team’s 9:30 a.m. practice, his father, Jamar Thomas, 44, told the Daily News. Miles, who hailed from West Brighton and was 6-feet-2 and 321 pounds, was stopped by coaches after completing just two sprints, Thomas said, citing what the coaching staff told him. Miles was talking to one of his coaches when he collapsed about 10:30 a.m. Miles Kirkland-Thomas, died during football practice at Curtis High School on Staten Island on Monday September 1, 2014. Courtesy of Jamar Thomas Enlarge The 16-year-old defensive tackle was set to start his junior year. “The coach said he was talking to him; he said Miles took a step back,” Thomas said. “He said Miles fainted toward him; he went to grab him — they both hit the ground.” The temperature was about 80 degrees at the time, with the humidity making it feel almost 90 degrees, the National Weather Service reported. Emergency responders tried to revive the teen, who was in cardiac arrest when he was rushed to Staten Island University Medical Center, where he died, his father said. Miles’ family was not aware that he suffered from any preexisting conditions, and he had passed a physical in July that cleared him to play. “He took his physical in July and he was fine. He was cleared to play — all he had was a blister on the back of his foot he got from his cleats,” Thomas said. A Department of Education spokeswoman said the agency was investigating the death. The father said his son had likely run up a steep hill that leads to the school in St. George in an effort to make it to practice on time — an exertion that could have left him winded before he began the on-field sprints. On holidays like Labor Day, there is not a bus option for Miles to take to practice, his father said. Miles, “the baby” of five children, was obsessed with the gridiron and dreamed of playing college and pro ball, his family said hours after he died. The teen’s uncle, Clarence McNatt, once played for the NFL’s Detroit Lions, and his older brother played for Bacone College in Oklahoma, his family said. “We’re a big sports family,” Miles’ sister, Lashawnder Kirkland, 37, said. “Football was his life. He loved football — that’s the way he was.” His father recalled his son recently asking him if he would be allowed to move away from home if he won a college football scholarship. “He was asking me, if he got a scholarship to play out West, would I let him go,” he said. “He was trying to convince me.” Thomas added that the family was awaiting the results of an autopsy that was expected to be performed Monday night.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 19:46:01 +0000
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