Autopsy: WCU football player died of heart complications
CULLOWHEE (AP) — An autopsy has found that a football player who died during his first preseason workout at Western Carolina University suffered complications from an enlarged heart.
Ja'Quayvin Smalls died in July, hours after collapsing while running. The junior defensive back from Wando, S.C., had just transferred from Georgia Military College.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reported today that an autopsy by Dr. Lawrence Selby found that sickle cell trait and exertion contributed to Smalls' cardiac arrest. Sickle cell is an inherited blood disorder made more dangerous during strenuous exercise.
The NCAA recommended just before Smalls' death that all of its member schools test athletes for the sickle cell condition. Western Carolina started testing after Smalls' death.
Search News-Record.com
closeSearch News & Record Article Archives
Not all of the newspaper's content appears online.
*There is a fee for downloading some older articles.
