Colleges

Response was slow to player's collapse

By wire services
Published July 28, 2005

COLUMBIA, Mo. - A Missouri football player who died earlier this month after collapsing at the end of a preseason workout, wasn't immediately taken to the hospital across the street but instead driven to the team offices, a university police report shows.

Aaron O'Neal, 19, was "in full cardiac arrest" by the time campus police officer Clayton Henke and University Hospital paramedics arrived at the Tom Taylor Building on July 12, Henke wrote in a police report obtained by the Associated Press under Missouri's public records law.

O'Neal, 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, started to struggle during conditioning drills about 45 minutes into the session.

The backup middle linebacker slumped to the ground after the final drill and was helped off the field by a teammate.

The Boone County medical examiner completed an autopsy the day after O'Neal's death and ruled out infection, trauma and foul play as causes of death. Complete results won't be available for several weeks, pending toxicology tests and other laboratory analysis.

USF, hoping to establish a radio network across the state, reached an agreement with an Orlando station to broadcast Bulls football games this fall.

The Bulls are in negotiations with several local stations, including Clear Channel's WFLA-AM 970, to upgrade their Tampa-area broadcast deal, currently with WTBN-AM 570 and 910.

WORL-AM 660, which has a financial news format during the week but broadcasts Sporting News Radio at night and on weekends, will give USF an audience estimated between 75,000 and 100,000 listeners in the greater Orlando area.

"It's a new audience for us," said John Trybulec, WORL's station manager. "Not everybody over here is an FSU or Gator fan. It's a good deal, in that it's something both sides want and need."

DELAWARE STATE: Billy Henderson, the Pinellas Park running back who left the USF program in January, will play his final season at the Division I-AA school. Henderson, whose career was limited by a torn knee ligament last year, rushed for 148 yards in three seasons at USF before graduating this spring. He joins a Hornets roster that included four players from St. Petersburg last season.

A USF doubleheader of men's and women's basketball games, discussed as a potential off-campus event at the St. Pete Times Forum in December, might be moved to the Sun Dome due to a scheduling conflict with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Lightning hosts the Nashville Predators at 8 p.m. Dec. 10. USF scheduled a doubleheader for the same day, with the Bulls men's team hosting Michigan and the women's team hosting Michigan State, but the logistics of converting the Times Forum from basketball to hockey all but eliminate the possibility of it being played there.

USF preferred an evening start for any games at the Forum to maximize the downtown crowd but will wait until the Michigan game's TV status is announced before making a decision on whether to try and play at the Forum or move to the Sun Dome, athletic director Doug Woolard said.

Times staff writer Greg Auman contributed to this report.

[Last modified July 28, 2005, 01:10:15]