Oklahoma college basketball player dies after collapsing during team workouts
STILLWATER, Okla. – A central Oklahoma university community is left reeling after one of its athletes died Thursday from heat exhaustion.
Tyrek Coger, 21, an incoming men’s basketball player for the Oklahoma State University Cowboys, died Thursday evening after he collapsed during team workouts.
According to authorities, a call came in to dispatch at 5:04 p.m. concerning a man who had collapsed on the stairs of the university’s Boone Pickens Stadium from heat exhaustion. A spokesperson for OSU Athletics confirmed that Coger, a junior college transfer, was pronounced dead at a local medical center less than an hour and a half later.
The temperature in Stillwater was 99 degrees at 5 p.m. with a heat index of 105 degrees according to Erin Maxwell, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma.
In a press release, OSU coach Brad Underwood mourned the incoming player’s loss.
“Tyrek was excited to be at Oklahoma State and had such passion for the game and was looking forward to being an OSU Cowboy. Losing a member of the team is like losing a member of the family. But we know our loss pales in comparison to the pain his family is going through.”
According to the release, Coger, who was transferring from Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina, had been on campus only since July 5.
Current and former OSU athletes, some basketball players and others not, took to Twitter to mourn the loss of the Cowboy as the university family has several times before.
Still feels so unreal
— T.Shine (@Tavarius_shine) July 22, 2016
Didn’t know ya G but I’m praying for ya family!
— Tre Flowers (@_Slimm7) July 22, 2016
Sad, awful, devastating news out of Stillwater tonight. Lord be with Tyrek Coger’s family…
— Yves Batoba (@Ybatoba) July 22, 2016
My heart and prayers go out to Tyrek Coger his family and the @OSUMBB family..
— Mike Cobbins (@MikeCobbs20) July 22, 2016
My thoughts and prayers are with the Oklahoma State University Family…my heart and deepest sympathy go out to the Coger Family!
— Travis Ford (@CoachTFord5) July 22, 2016
According to the EPA, heat is the leading weather-related killer in the United States. With annual rising summer temperatures and extreme heat becoming more prevalent across the country, the risk of heat-related death and illness will likely increase.
Ahrens writes for the Stillwater, Oklahoma News Press. David Bitton contributed to this story.