Since Roberts' passing, the Des Moines Register cited a report from the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, which found just one fatality in high school wrestling across the country for the 2012-13 school year, the most recent year for which statistics were available. The National Federation of State High School Associations lists 278,890 high school wrestling participants in that season.
To provide additional perspective ... in a separate article, the Des Moines Register cited statistics from another report from the same organization which found four fatalities from all high school winter sports nationwide for the 2012-13 school year. (This article was published in light of the deaths of two prep athletes in Iowa while directly participating in their respective sports. In addition to Roberts, a high school basketball player collapsed during a game in early December, and passed away one week later.)
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that there isn't a record of wrestling-related deaths in Iowa, according to Iowa High School Athletic Association officials. That said Roberts' death was the first in Executive Director Alan Beste's 28 years with the ISHAA.
To be eligible to participate, Iowa high school male athletes must pass a yearly physical conducted by a "physician and surgeon, osteopathic physician and surgeon, osteopath, qualified doctor of chiropractic, licensed physician's assistant or advanced registered nurse practitioner," the IHSAA rules state.
An autopsy was performed on Roberts the day before Christmas. As of this writing, results have not been made public. An initial exam indicated the late Spencer High wrestler -- who was a placer at the Iowa high school state championships in March, and was 12-0 this season -- died of natural causes, and had not been injured or poisoned. Austin Roberts' father Travis Roberts told NBC News that his son had no history of collapsing during matches or workouts, nor any other known health issues. Witnesses to Austin Roberts' last match on Dec. 19 said there was no collision or slam or any other incident.
InterMat has reported on the deaths of three high school wrestlers so far during the 2015-16 season. Two involved prep wrestlers in the state of Iowa. In addition to the passing of Roberts this month, in November, Tristan White, 14, of Treynor High in western Iowa, was struck and killed by a sport utility vehicle while doing roadwork with his wrestling teammates on a country road not far from home. A third death took place in Virginia; in early December, Cullen Porter, 17, a senior at Franklin High School, died after being injured in wrestling practice. No cause of death had been reported in the local media.
Anecdotal evidence may provide additional comfort for wrestlers, their families and friends beyond statistics.
In 2009, this writer began producing news stories about U.S. amateur wrestling, including reporting on the deaths of active and former participants in the sport. In that time, most of the deaths involving current high school or college wrestlers have taken place far from the sport. Prior to the deaths of the three high school matmen this season, the last U.S. amateur wrestler to have died while involved in an activity related directly to his sport was in September 2013, when a wrestler at Georgia's Darton State College collapsed during an outdoor team run in extreme heat, and died nine days later. From my experience, the two most common causes of death for active wrestlers have involved vehicle accidents, with accidental drownings ranking a close second.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now