kepdawg
02-09-2009, 11:33 PM
Austin College athlete collapses, dies
BY BILL SPINKS
HERALD DEMOCRAT
An Austin College football player collapsed Monday evening during a pick-up game of basketball and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Zach Swircynski, a sophomore from Muenster, was playing basketball at about 5:30 p.m. at Hughey Gymnasium when, according to one eyewitness, he tensed up, took a deep breath and fell to the floor. A trainer responded to give him cardiopulmonary resuscitation and an ambulance was called, but Swirczynski was pronounced dead at Wilson N. Jones Hospital.
"He was playing pick-up basketball, and things went bad," said Austin College athletic director Tim Millerick, who was out of town on Monday. "This was out of the blue. It's unbelievable; he was a good, healthy college kid."
Swirczynski, a 5-foot-8, 215-pound fullback, played in all 10 games for the 'Roos last fall. He rushed 30 times for 117 yards and no touchdowns, and also caught one pass for five yards and returned a kickoff for 10 yards.
It's the second time in the last three years that tragedy has struck the Austin College athletic community. In January 2006, Brittany Simpson, a women's basketball player, was killed in a car accident near Madisonville while traveling back to Sherman. A scholarship was established in Simpson's name at Austin College shortly thereafter.
"We have good people helping the kids," Millerick said. "It's a difficult thing, but we'll keep plugging away and we'll pull through it."
BY BILL SPINKS
HERALD DEMOCRAT
An Austin College football player collapsed Monday evening during a pick-up game of basketball and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Zach Swircynski, a sophomore from Muenster, was playing basketball at about 5:30 p.m. at Hughey Gymnasium when, according to one eyewitness, he tensed up, took a deep breath and fell to the floor. A trainer responded to give him cardiopulmonary resuscitation and an ambulance was called, but Swirczynski was pronounced dead at Wilson N. Jones Hospital.
"He was playing pick-up basketball, and things went bad," said Austin College athletic director Tim Millerick, who was out of town on Monday. "This was out of the blue. It's unbelievable; he was a good, healthy college kid."
Swirczynski, a 5-foot-8, 215-pound fullback, played in all 10 games for the 'Roos last fall. He rushed 30 times for 117 yards and no touchdowns, and also caught one pass for five yards and returned a kickoff for 10 yards.
It's the second time in the last three years that tragedy has struck the Austin College athletic community. In January 2006, Brittany Simpson, a women's basketball player, was killed in a car accident near Madisonville while traveling back to Sherman. A scholarship was established in Simpson's name at Austin College shortly thereafter.
"We have good people helping the kids," Millerick said. "It's a difficult thing, but we'll keep plugging away and we'll pull through it."