[Stardust]

http://www.kentucky.com/802/story/670020.html

'Gassers' preceded player's collapse
Drill that killed PRP player common in high school football
By Brett Barrouquere and Will Graves - Associated Press LOUISVILLE — Football players know them as "gassers" — sprints up and down the field to build stamina.

Sophomore Max Gilpin and his Pleasure Ridge Park teammates spent the tail end of a three-hour practice on a sweltering August day in Louisville running the drill that is a coaching staple across the country, hoping to impress enough to earn varsity playing time that fall.

They sprinted 12 times in what felt like 94-degree heat, sometimes with helmets and pads, as the coaches pushed them to go harder and harder. It was a drill like those on many high school football fields, until Gilpin, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound offensive lineman, collapsed to the turf just 15 minutes after a teammate went down.


Michele Crockett
In this photo provided by the Gilpin family, Max Gilpin is shown during his 15th birthday party, in July, 2008, in Louisville, Ky.

Mike Hayman | Courier-Journal
Louisville Pleasure Ridge Park football coach David Jason Stinson is seen on the sidelines during the team's first game back after Max Gilpin's death in this Sept. 26, 2008 photo in Louisville, Ky.

Mike Hayman | The Courier-Journal
Louisville Pleasure Ridge Park football coach David Jason Stinson is seen on the sidelines during the team's first game back after Max Gilpin's death in this Sept. 26, 2008 photo in Louisville, Ky.

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Three days later, the 15-year-old Gilpin was dead from heat stroke, with authorities saying his body temperature was 107 degrees when he reached the hospital. Five months later, his first-year head coach David Jason Stinson is facing a reckless homicide charge, with a prosecutor saying the coach should have realized a player could get heat stroke in such broiling weather.