Chad VanHuis, who once umpired Leonard's middle-school baseball games, remembered opposing coaches asking to see his birth certificate. He was the nicest kid. You'd think with his star potential, because he's so gifted, he'd be cocky, but he never really was that way," VanHuis said. When he reached Fennville High, Leonard really took off, playing as a starter for three years on the football team, first as a receiver, then as a quarterback and defensive end.
Schipper had expected Leonard to take his talents into college athletics at some level, although his prospects were unclear. Leonard, who played basketball as a freshman and then spent two seasons as a starter, led the Blackhawks throughout the season.
That's what separated him - his passion. He had a passion to compete. He had a passion to be his best. The Fennville team is scheduled to compete in the Class C district playoffs Monday, but officials at the high school with more than students had not decided Friday whether to play the game. Leonard's mother, Jocelyn, is a choir teacher at the middle and high schools and director of Fennville High's production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Their grief speaks volumes about the high regard in which Wes was held. Main Menu U. News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Fennville was down 14 points but came back to tie the game at Leonard scored his team's last four points for the victory. Sauceda had screamed her lungs out during the game. She was running toward Leonard to hug him when he went down. Tim Breed, a spokesman for Holland Hospital and a Fennville graduate, was also in the gym. He doesn't normally attend games, but thought he could not miss his alma mater's perfect season closer.
When Leonard collapsed, the crowds were asked to leave the gym. Breed was on his way home when he was paged by a local newspaper reporter. He rushed to the hospital to find medical teams trying to resuscitate Leonard. Shortly after that, a text message appeared on Sauceda's phone from a friend at the hospital.
Sauceda was about to go to sleep. Instead, she was jolted awake, the shock so severe she wasn't even able to immediately cry. Please watch over us, and cheer us on as our boys win state!
Share this on:. Teen makes winning shot, dies suddenly. Most Popular. Leonard's game-winning layup, which earned two of his 21 points that game, led the undefeated Fennville Blackhawks to a win over Bridgman High School. Teammates hoisted in him the air moments before he collapsed. Suspecting possible heat exhaustion, people tried to and cool Leonard down with ice packs while waiting for the ambulance. We had gone from a monumental high one minute literally a minute or two minutes later to this hushed sense of shock.
Paramedics performed CPR and took Leonard to a defibrillator on the court. Soon after he was rushed by ambulance to nearby Holland Hospital, where he died two hours later at p.
Sudden death in young athletes is relatively rare, but a major concern among schools and professional organizations. It gained significant attention in with the death of year-old Hank Gathers, a basketball star at Loyola Marymount University. Gathers died after collapsing on the court during a game against the University of California, Santa Barbara.
A medical examiner determined that Gathers, suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy -- an enlargement of the heart due to thickening of the muscle walls.
According to a review published in the New England Journal of Medicine, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the leading cause of sudden death among athletes, accounting for roughly a quarter of deaths. What led to Leonard's condition, which prevents the heart from efficiently pumping blood to the rest of the body, is unknown. According to the National Institutes of health, risk factors include heart disease or a family history of it, high blood pressure, vitamin or mineral deficiency, infections involving the heart muscle, and the use of certain drugs or medications.
Thirty percent of dilated cardiomyopathy cases are inherited, according to Dr. Symptoms, such as shortness of breath, rapid and irregular pulse, chest pain and faintness, are often subtle and develop slowly over time. But they can be severe and come on suddenly. When detected, dilated cardiomyopathy can be treated using drugs that lower blood pressure or dilate the blood vessels.
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