Tony Cutillo
On a day-to-day basis, life continues on it path to normalcy and then tragedy strikes. This time it comes in the form of the unexpected death of Tyler Heintz, a Kent State incoming freshman football player.
At 9:20 P.M., Kent State’s communications and marketing department did release a brief statement.
“Today, the Kent State University family mourns the tragic loss of one of our student-athletes, freshman football player Tyler Heintz. Tyler was transported to a local hospital by paramedics this morning following football conditioning drills at Dix Stadium. The cause of death is not yet known.
“Tyler was from Kenton, Ohio, and planned to study marketing and entrepreneurship in the College of Business Administration. Tyler was recruited as a rising star on our offensive line. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with Tyler’s family and friends, as well as Coach Haynes and the team, our athletics staff and our student-athletes.”
For Heintz, it was his second day on campus during preseason football workouts at the university in high 80-degree weather and high humidity. Hydration is always an issue during any type of outdoor workout, but it is still too early to determine the cause of death.
Heintz recently graduated from Kenton High School, and is the second football player at Kent State to die over the last four years. In 2013, Jason Bitsko unexpectedly died in his sleep at his apartment just prior to the start of the football season. Both players were offensive linemen. Heinz, a 6-4, 275 pound tackle, signed to play at Kent State during the February signing period for high school football players.
The issues of practicing under specific weather conditions are surely to be brought to the forum as they look inside this tragedy. It’s the normal procedure for cases like the above. Hopefully something positive will come out of this research and possibly save a life later on.
This is just another case of never taking life for granted. Everything you had or experienced in one day could be gone the next without warning. Hug your loved ones and push through life without any regrets. Our prayers here at Pi, as well as the entire sports world go out to the Heintz family during this time of mourning.
As always you can stop by my Facebook page (FantasySportsAddiction) or tweet me (@TCutillo23) for questions or some nice fantasy debates. I can also be heard weekly via the internet stream live at WengRadio every Monday at 4:00pm EST for a weekend sports wrap. But most importantly, you can catch me here at Pi!
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