By John Swartz
Francine Sawyer contributed to this story
Sun Journal
Copyright 2007 Sun Journal
NEW BERN, N.C. — The death of a New Bern football player on the sidelines of a weekend game is expected to prompt officials of the semi-pro league to review the policy on stand-by medical personnel.
An autopsy was performed Monday at Craven Regional Medical Center on Takirra L. Koonce, a 28-year-old linesman for the New Bern Grizzlies. Officials would not release a cause of death, and family members told the Sun Journal they had yet to be told.
Koonce was pronounced dead at Craven Regional at 10 p.m. Saturday after falling unconscious on the sidelines of the Grizzlies’ game at the Grover C. Fields Middle School athletic field. Efforts to revive him by some of those present -- including teammates and an off-duty Carteret County Fire and Rescue member serving as a team medic -- were unsuccessful.
No ambulance was on hand during the football game, although one was dispatched after some minutes from Craven Regional following a police officer’s call to 911. The hospital is about a quarter mile from the field on which the game was being played.
New Bern Deputy Police Chief Ed Preston said there is no law requiring ambulances at athletic games such as football. Many leagues and organizations, however, have rules in place that require emergency medical personnel on site during athletic events.
At all New Bern High School football games, for example, athletic director Tim Guter is required by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association to ensure an ambulance is standing by on site.
The Mason-Dixon Football League, of which the Grizzlies are members, does not require such precautions, and most or all of the 11 teams do not provide ambulances at games. The league’s teams in cities along the East Coast are composed of unpaid players, most of whom have high school or college football experience.
“It is not mandatory, but it is strongly suggested,” Mason-Dixon league secretary Mary Lockhart said Monday of the ambulance policy. “We strongly suggest they be on call or on the site, but it is up to the individual teams.”
League President Travis Parker said the issue will likely be brought up at the next league meeting, after the conclusion of this season.
“It will probably be a topic,” Parker said. “We have to take a look at it and all that’s surrounded it.”
The league constitution was written when the league was born in 1978, according to Parker.
He said the rules are in that constitution, and all policies are made at league meetings.
“The owners vote on everything,” he said.
Grizzlies team owner DeAndre Hicks said the New Bern team made requests in the past to Craven Regional to have an ambulance on site but that those requests were denied.
“They said they don’t do that because of the close proximity to the field (from the hospital),” DeAndre Hicks said. “Of course, I wanted one here.”
Team secretary Deddra Hicks said the team last contacted Craven Regional last season.
“I didn’t contact them this year because they told us last year they wouldn’t come out,” she said.
Stanley Kite, director of emergency services for Craven County, confirmed that he had not received a request for ambulance services from the team.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Kite said. “At a public event, it’s not mandated that an ambulance be on standby.”
Kite also confirmed that a hospital ambulance would not have been dispatched to stand by during the game.
“Hospital ambulances, as a rule, don’t go stand by,” Kite said, “simply because of the call volume. Had I received a request ... I would have put them in touch with local and community services.”
The cost of a stand-by ambulance is between $75 and $100 an hour, a high school official said.
The Sun Journal conducted a quick poll and reached seven of the 11 Mason-Dixon league teams. None of the seven, including the Raiders in Jacksonville and the Tigers in Wilmington, make it a practice to have an ambulance on standby.
Officials of the Hill City Storm, Fayetteville Ruff Riders, Winchester Tigers and Virginia Crusaders could not be reached. The Ruff Riders are hosting the Grizzlies on Saturday.
Koonce, who lived on Brunswick Avenue in New Bern, attended New Bern High School, where he played basketball. He was the father of seven children.