[Nehkara]

High School Player Collapses, Dies After Winning Shot

Wes Leonard's game-winning layup in overtime brought the Fennville High School crowd to its feet, and joyous teammates and fans quickly surrounded their star player. A moment later, Leonard collapsed and died. He was just 16.

A day later, with the death blamed on an enlarged heart, this small town near Lake Michigan remembered an "all-American kid" whose athletic heroics had been local legend since middle school, when opposing coaches sometimes asked to see his birth certificate, not believing someone so young could be so skilled.

On Thursday evening, Leonard scored with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game. The final shot gave Fennville a 57-55 victory over Bridgman High and a 20-0 regular season.

After the teams exchanged handshakes, Fennville players scrambled together for a team photo to commemorate their undefeated record. That's when the six-foot-two, 215-pound Leonard collapsed.

"Thirty seconds earlier, he was laying in the winning bucket," said Ryan Klingler, basketball coach in Fennville, about 320 kilometres west of Detroit. "And then 10 seconds later ... everything's pulled out from under you, from out of nowhere."

Leonard was rushed to nearby Holland Hospital, where paramedics performed CPR before he was pronounced dead. An autopsy conducted Friday by the Ottawa County medical examiner showed Leonard died of cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart.

Many who knew Leonard said he was destined for athletic greatness from a young age. He was a top performer in baseball and football, too.

I wish more could be done to detect these problems before they happen... such a tragedy.