KS college’s review of football player’s death ‘grossly inadequate,’ NJ congressman says

A New Jersey congressman is calling a Kansas college’s internal review of a football player’s death “grossly inadequate.”

Coroners determined that Braeden Bradforth, 19, died of exertional heat stroke after his football team’s first day of practice at Garden City Community College. Bradforth had moved to Kansas from New Jersey two days before his Aug. 1, 2018, death.

The community college released this week a summary of an internal review into Bradforth’s death, but New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith called the summary “woefully inadequate.”

“The summary of the grossly inadequate and incomplete internal review lacks answers to key questions about the events of August 1 that, nine months later, still need to be answered,” Smith said in a statement. “The family deserves the basic facts of Braeden’s death. This is a summary of what? A young man is dead, and we still don’t know how or why he died. The summary raises more questions than it answers.”

The college’s summary of its internal review states that athletes wore practice jerseys and pants to that first day of conditioning for the team. It was 84 degrees — lower than the typical 91 degrees for a 7 p.m. practice at that time of year.

Ten coaches, four athletic trainers and eight student helpers were at the practice, and there were 60 gallons of water, along with ice chests and emergency supplies available at the site.

Bradforth, practicing with the defensive linemen, was expected to run 36 50-yard sprints, completing each sprint in 8 seconds. Athletes were given 30 seconds of rest between each sprint. The head trainer and head coach never noticed Bradforth “drop a knee to the ground, or complain about the drills,” the summary states.

After the practice ended, Bradforth didn’t attend a team meeting.

One of the coaches saw Bradforth “stumbled a little trying to speed up before regaining his balance,” the summary states. The coach said to Bradforth “Hey, you’re good. Let’s go.” Bradforth responded back “Yeah, I’m good. I’m good.”

But Bradforth started walking in the direction of the dorms, and the coach asked him if he was quitting.

Bradforth’s response was only shaking his head as he continued to walk away. The coach interpreted it as a “disappointment” head shake and told Bradforth’s position coach at the team meeting that he had apparently quit, the summary states.

After the team meeting ended, another athlete found Bradforth passed out outside. One coach ran to him, then called the head coach. The head coach called the head athletic trainer. The head athletic trainer, after arriving at the scene, called 911. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where he died.

The school said no surveillance cameras were in the area where Bradforth collapsed, and no video footage exists of any area where he was at the school on that day.

As part of the review, the school has taken or plans to take several steps. They include hiring an additional trainer and a strength and conditioning coach, and providing CPR and first aid training for all coaches. Additional steps include having immediate follow-ups for players who leave practice for a welfare check, developing a policy for recognizing and treating heat-related illnesses, increasing campus police coverage and developing an athletic training handbook.

“Where are the notes of the interviews with players, coaches, and training staff?” Smith, the New Jersey congressman, said in his statement. “Where are the witness statements? Are we supposed to accept that there is no relevant surveillance video footage from GCCC on August 1st anywhere?”

“Was Braeden exhibiting signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke — such as disorientation? If so, was he immediately tended to by the trainers and given cold water immersion, which is one of the best practices for treating heat stroke?”

Smith called for an external, independent investigation into Bradforth’s death.

Months after Bradforth’s death, the autopsy determined that he died of exertional heatstroke and not a blood clot causing a heart attack, as former Head Coach Jeff Sims suggested days after the death.

The autopsy report cites “the facts surrounding the case — decedent’s first intense workout of the year; ambient temperature in the 80s F with humidity; stomach containing food and vomiting,” as well as other medical conditions, including abnormally rapid breathing and heart rate and a history of asthma, in reaching the conclusion.

His mother, Joanne Atkins Ingram, told NJ Advance Media after the report was released that she planned to sue the college.

“I hold the whole school liable,” she told the news outlet. “It’s bittersweet. I’m glad to know the truth, but it doesn’t bring him back.”

Sims left the school to be the head coach at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin after Garden City lost in the Nov. 29 national championship game to East Mississippi by one point. He was named NJCAA National Coach of the Year in 2016 after the Broncbusters won the National Junior College Athletic Association national championship that year.

This story was originally published May 3, 2019 at 9:17 PM with the headline "KS college’s review of football player’s death ‘grossly inadequate,’ NJ congressman says."