UPDATE, 04.24.14: Cal football player Ted Agu, who collapsed after a Feb. 7 team training run, died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to Sgt. Paul Graves of the Alameda County Coroners’ Bureau and reported by the San Jose Mercury News. Graves said hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an excessive thickening of the heart muscle and a common cause of unexpected death in athletes.
UPDATE, 02.07.14, 3:55 p.m.: UC Berkeley athletics officials released some details of the events leading to the death of 21-year-old defensive lineman Ted Agu at a press conference this afternoon. The death occurred during a supervised training run near Cal’s Memorial Stadium, KQED News reports. Dr. Casey Batten, a team physician, said medical staff were monitoring the workout and noticed that Agu appeared to be having difficulty completing it. As a precaution, staff members stopped Agu’s workout. “He was hydrating, he was responsive, he was talking,” Batten said. As a further precaution, he was placed on a cart and moved to a medical facility about 150 yards away. Agu collapsed there. Batten said medical staff immediately started what he called “high-quality CPR” and use of an external defibrillator. Agu was then rushed to Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, where he died.
ORIGINAL STORY: Ted Agu, a 21-year-old junior defensive end on Cal’s football team, collapsed during a conditioning workout this morning and died shortly afterwards.
“This is a very difficult time for our football family,” said Sonny Dykes, head football coach, in a statement issued by Cal Athletics. “Ted was a remarkable young man and a member of this family who was highly respected and loved by his teammates and coaching staff. He had an incredible passion for life and will be deeply missed.”
Agu, from Bakersfield, majored in public health. A backup defensive end, he played in seven of Cal’s games last season.
In the athletics department statement Athletics Director Sandy Barbour said, “Our heartfelt condolences go out to Ted’s family. This is a very painful time for the entire Cal family; in the days and weeks ahead, my focus will be on providing every member of our community the support and information they need to get through this time. I would ask that media please respect and understand how this tragedy is impacting Ted’s family, his teammates, friends and the members of our campus community. We will get through this together.”
Agu’s teammates and Cal Bears alumni and fans posted numerous tributes on Twitter:
Rip big homie Ted , I look up to you for what you do on and off the field ! #ForeverMissed #35ForLife #CalFamily pic.twitter.com/Kl9COPCKpf
— Big Heem (@HeemAtCal) February 7, 2014
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