Wes Leonard collapses and dies after securing his high school basketball team’s perfect record
Basketball mourns the death of a young player who left the world with a game-winning shot. Proud as he might have been by clinching his team’s 20-0 perfect record for the 2010-11 season, he collapsed on the gym floor soon after making the game winning shot.
Wes made sure not to let his team, the Blackhawks, down and while celebrating the win collapsed and was declared dead at the age of 16. Amidst celebrating a 57-55 victory over the Bridgman ,Michigan High, the young player fell down never to get up. Thursday,
3rd March was the last day the Fennville basketball star saw the light of the day and etched his name among two other players who also became victims of heart attack. Len Bias and Dorian Dawkins also left their teammates mourning their deaths after
their fatal attacks.
The 6’2” player who shined after clinching the perfect layup for his team did not know what waited him ahead but neither did anyone else. Fans cheered to that victory shot, his coach smiled, teammates ran to hug him moments before, but that perfect moment
ended as the player fell flat on the floor. Everything else faded around them as his team ran to him, not knowing that their beloved friend was breathing his last moments.
Leonard had been a legend since he started playing. He would leave the opposition’s coaches awed at the way he played. They wouldn’t believe that he was as young as they said he was and would ask for his birth certificate. He was not only a good player but
a sweetheart and everyone remembers his as the kid who used to cheer everyone up.
DeMarcus McGee was sobbing after the death of his friend when he said, "He was a good kid, a good friend to have and a good person to hang around with. You never thought it could be him. He was so healthy. It shouldn't happen."
It happened just thirty seconds after sealing his team’s perfect record, when the team was assembling to make the memory everlasting by shooting a team group photo. Around 1,400 fans present at the moment saw their future superstar being taken away from
them forever.
Too young to die, the angelic faced player collapsed then and there and could not recover after receiving CPR at the local hospital. An autopsy confirmed death due to cardiac arrest, a result of an enlarged heart.
He was a passionate player. He not only played basketball but also was also a great football and baseball player since he was a child. A well-mannered, poised and courteous kid, that’s what he was known as.
Fennville’s Superintent, Dirk Weeldreyer, remembered him as a good person and said, "Beyond his outstanding athletic abilities, Wes was a better person. His fellow students liked and respected him. Their grief speaks volumes about the high regard in which
Wes was held."
Fans and friends are in shock and who else can be more moved than his family. A visitation will be held on Sunday and the funeral has been set on Tuesday.
Young Leonard left his family and friends with memories that would last forever, despite his early resignation from the world, the teenager will always bring a smile to everyone who knew him.
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