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GREENSBORO - N.C. A&T football player Chad Wiley died of complications from heat stroke, and he had sickle-cell trait, a condition statistically associated with sudden death in some athletes, according to autopsy results released Friday.

University officials said they were unaware of Wiley's sickle-cell trait and that they have begun to screen for the condition in light of the offensive lineman's death May 28.

In a five-page report, the state medical examiner's office ruled out external causes such as illegal drugs in the death of the 313-pound athlete, who collapsed during what the university has described as a voluntary, supervised workout May 27. Wiley died early the next morning at Moses Cone Hospital.

"We've always had our doubts about what happened," Melody Wells, Wiley's mother, said by phone from her home in Black Mountain. "Everything was just bam-bam-bam and then Chad was dead. Nobody could ever explain to us how it happened."

Sickle-cell trait, which affects roughly 8 percent of the African American population in the United States, has been linked with sudden death for several years. A 1987 study by the U.S. military said recruits with the condition were 30 times more likely to die during basic training than other black recruits were.

The most frequent cause of death in those instances was rhabdomyolysis , a release of muscle fibers into the bloodstream often brought about by heat stroke.

In concluding the Wiley report, Dr. Deborah L. Radisch wrote, "Laboratory findings were consistent with heat stroke, especially rhabdomyolysis. Risk factors for heat stroke in this individual included exertion, hot environment and sickle-cell trait."

In June 2007, the National Athletic Trainers Association released a statement of consensus from 22 professional organizations on sickle-cell trait and the athlete.

"It is not contra-indicative to participation," Scott Anderson, head athletics trainer at the University of Oklahoma, said in an interview Friday. "It is not a limiting factor to attaining athletic excellence."

The report encourages blood screening and modifying training to accommodate the condition.

Blood screening is common among NCAA institutions, but it is neither mandatory under NCAA rules nor universal in practice. A 2006 study conducted by the University of Arizona said 64 percent of institutions at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, which includes ACC schools but not A&T, perform such tests. There is no data available on the prevalence of testing in A&T's classification, the Football Championship Subdivision.

"All considered, despite no evidence-based proof yet that screening saves lives, each institution should carefully weigh the decision to screen in the absence of documented newborn screen results," the NATA study said.

The study also said, "nearly all of the 13 (recent) deaths in college football have been at institutions that did not screen for sickle-cell trait or had a lapse in precautions for it."

On the morning of May 27, Wiley and five other players ran up and down a modest hill near the school's softball field. He did not pass out until walking into the training room in the Bryan Fitness and Wellness Center several minutes later.

Wheeler Brown, N.C. A&T's director of athletics, said school officials would have taken the appropriate precautions if they had known of Wiley's condition. Brown said he "just recently" became aware of the NATA consensus statement.

"We're not going to put a student-athlete in harm's way," he said. "We follow all NCAA guidelines in terms of medical examinations and things of that nature."

Staff writer Robert Bell contributed to this story.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com