Iowa high school basketball player dies after collapsing at practice
Iowa high school basketball player Drew Jacobson died on Monday after collapsing at practice last week, USA Todayreports.
Jacobson, a 16-year-old junior, went down while his Woodward-Granger High School varsity team was going through drills at practice on Wednesday. He was transported to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa by air ambulance following his collapse.
While the cause of his death has not yet been disclosed publicly, his fellow students were told it was due to congestive heart failure.
“He went down to the ground after a loose ball, just like Drew does, then he pushed himself up and went back down and we knew something was wrong,” first year Woodward-Granger head coach Brent Achenbach said.
Woodward-Granger’s game on Tuesday night will be dedicated to Jacobson, who made his first varsity start in last week’s season opener.
“We’re playing,” Jacobson’s teammate Nick Squires said. “We thought that Drew would want us to play, so we’re going to go out and give it our best. In school or in sports, I’ve never seen a kid go so hard.”
A GoFundMe page was set up to raise funds for Jacobson’s family for medical and funeral costs. In the page’s first six hours online, $15,000 was raised for the family.
