N.C. high school football player dies after game

Greenville, N.C. — A Greenville high school football player has died after collapsing during a game Friday night.

Jaquan Waller, a junior running back at J.H. Rose High School, was removed from life support at Pitt County Memorial Hospital Saturday afternoon, according to a press release from the school district.

Waller was transported there after he collapsed on the sidelines during the second quarter of a home game against Wilmington's J.T. Hoggard High School.

“Jaquan was a dedicated player that was well liked by his peers,” J.H. Rose head coach Todd Lipe said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the Waller family during this difficult time.”

Members of the coaching staff and school counselors met with members of the team Saturday. The school will open Sunday at 1 p.m. for students to meet with counselors.

A special fund was established through the Pitt County Educational Foundation to help with funeral and burial expenses. Contributions should be made out to the Pitt County Educational Foundation and sent to 1717 W. Fifth St., Greenville, NC 27834. Please note on the check memo line “Jaquan Waller and Family.”

Waller was the third high school football player to die in North Carolina this season.

Chapel Hill High School senior offensive guard Atlas Fraley, 17, was found unresponsive at his family’s home on Aug. 12.

In Winston Salem, R.J. Reynolds High School football player Matt Gfeller, 15, died last month from a brain injury during the season-opening game.

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Latest Comments

"....mommygozoom, make sure you dont ever let your child get a driver's license. Accidents happen. yvonnewheeless"

Well, duh.

My son extremely athletic and competative son plays baseball and basketball. He could get hit in the head and killed by a wild (accidental) pitch. He could get pushed and crack his head open the bleachers, accidentally of course. But, wild pitches and hard pushes are not major components of either of those games.

Part of my job, as a parent, is to do a REASONABLE job of protecting my child from harm. Reasonable, in our home, does not include putting him on a field with kids 2 or 3 times his size whose jobs are to knock the opponent into next week. If you feel that allowing your son to play football is in his best interest - so be it; maybe you should be a little less judgemental about those who feel differently.

MommyGoZoom
September 22, 2008 9:45 p.m.

I'm under the guise that this is getting reported more because of better communication tech, but not actually happening anymore than when I played the game. Thats actually why I stopped playing, because you get pushed very hard in a game you may never make a dime off of. It's a good sport that incorporates sacrifice and self-discipline, but it is so easy to push it pass the limit, because you're trained to never quit, as many other things in life, but you're not running at full speed flying into other well conditioned atheletes.

R.O.BdaCZAR
September 22, 2008 4:16 p.m.

Swimming does not have anything to do with football. Stay on the subject.

Dr. Dataclerk
September 22, 2008 1:28 p.m.

How many on board here attend the high school football games.

Dr. Dataclerk
September 22, 2008 1:22 p.m.

May be if the school systems did not have to spend the majority of their "sports" money on rent and insurance for swimming. Now I am not bashing swimmers per say...I just know that a large chunk of money goes towards a sport that is not that big in NC. The teams would be able to afford to buy new equipment and would not need to lean on the sports boosters as often as needed if this were not the case.

Has Atlas Fraley's death even been linked to football at all?