The family of Quandarius Wilburn, an 18-year-old football player at Virginia Union University (VUU) who collapsed and died after a team workout last year, have sued the school for negligence.
The lawsuit, which was filed July 13 in Richmond Circuit Court, is seeking $10 million.
Wilburn, who was 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, was participating in conditioning drills on VUU when the incident occurred.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined several months later that “the manner of death is natural, and the cause of death is acute sickle cell crisis in the setting of sickle cell trait [hemoglobin S gene heterozygosity], physical exertion, and elevated environmental temperature.”
An attorney for the plaintiffs, Victor C. Hawk, suggested to the media that once a school becomes aware that an “athlete has the sickle cell trait, it’s commonly known in the industry that those athletes have to be trained differently than the other athletes. If you don’t do it, they’ll die.”
Besides VUU, other defendants include Alvin Parker, VUU’s head coach; Felicia Johnson, who was then the school’s athletic director; Sean Ahonen, then the head athletic trainer for the football team; and Monterio Hand, then conditioning coach for the team.
The complaint alleges that “at all relevant times, including prior to August 8, 2021, all defendants knew Wilburn had a known sickle cell trait.”
The lawsuit further alleges that on that fateful day Wilburn was participating in “80-yard sprints with little rest in between each sprint. When Wilburn had trouble, he was pushed to the point of exhaustion and, inexcusably, beyond.”
After he collapsed, he was taken by ambulance to VCU Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The lawsuit contends that VUU failed to administer appropriate medical assistance in a timely manner, and also failed to call for appropriate emergency assistance in a timely manner.
“Wilburn’s death not only could have been prevented, it should have been prevented,” according to the complaint.
The lynchpin of the case may be the plaintiffs’ argument that Wilburn “underwent a physical examination at the East Georgia Health Center before reporting to VUU, and the examination confirmed he had sickle cell trait, information related to Parker before Wilburn and the team started VUU workouts.”
