Northwood football player remembered as 'scrappy kid'

IRVINE Shock and sadness spread across Northwood High School on Thursday, as students learned of the sudden death of a sophomore football player after a Wednesday evening practice.

Students mourned Dylan Bradshaw, 15, remembering him as a quiet but well-liked student and a scrappy, dedicated athlete.

Bradshaw died about two hours after collapsing at a practice with the junior varsity. Authorities said it could take weeks to determine the cause of death; an autopsy Thursday proving inconclusive.

Grief counselors were brought in to help students cope with the loss. Football practice was held Thursday, but as a sit-down meeting to talk about what happened, district officials said.

Several students said Thursday was an emotional day for the school.

“Everyone was crying,” said Ryan Smithling, a Northwood sophomore.

“He wasn't that big, but he was a scrappy kid,” said Smithling, a former teammate.

Northwood junior Garrett Pifer played with Bradshaw on the junior varsity last fall.

“He was a good football player,” Pifer recalled. “He had a lot of heart. … He never quit.”

Max Babyak, 16, a Northwood sophomore who wrestled with Bradshaw and shared a weightlifting class, said, “He was a quiet kid; I don't think he had any enemies.”

Molly Beane, the mother of Northwood football player Kyle Beane, said her son described the Wednesday practice as normal. She said Bradshaw was “a really kind soul … so sweet.”

Coaches, teachers and teammates were devastated by Bradshaw's death, Northwood head football coach Rick Curtis wrote in an e-mail.

“I was very close to him, and he was so well-liked by his teammates. This is a parent's and coach's biggest fear. It hurts so much to lose someone so young. He was a great kid. … There was so much ahead of him.”

District officials said Bradshaw's loss would have a lasting impact.

“I want to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of this young man,” district spokesman Ian Hanigan said.

Bradshaw began to feel ill after 5 p.m. with what appeared to be an asthma attack, Northwood officials said.

He moved toward the edge of the field, sat on an electric flatbed cart and at some point collapsed, Irvine police Lt. Rick Handfield said.

Bradshaw, a defensive lineman, apparently went into cardiac arrest, and a physical trainer on duty initiated CPR, Handfield said.

Paramedics took Bradshaw to Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at 6:35 p.m.

Police said the team was not wearing pads or helmets during the practice.

Bradshaw is the third Northwood student to die in a little more than a year. Two students died in spring 2007 - one in a car wreck, the other of asthma-induced cardiac arrest.

He is also the third Orange County high school athlete to die in the past year while or after participating in his sport.

Megan Nicole Myers, a freshman at Dana Hills High School, died Sept. 26 of multifocal myocarditis, an inflammation of the muscular part of the heart after collapsing in a cross country race.

Kenny Wilson, 16, a linebacker on the Beckman High School football team, died of heatstroke during the team's first practice Aug. 17.

Dan Cooper, chief of the pediatric pulmonology division at UC Irvine, studies exercise and asthma and is part of the Irvine school district's medical advisory board.

Cooper said the board already planned to meet with district staff in two weeks to discuss a fall workshop with national leaders, local physicians and district coaches to talk about sudden death and to explore ways to make such deaths less likely. Steps could include additional screenings and student-athlete education.

Contact the writer: ctran@ocregister.com, dalbano@ocregister.com