A Cal football player who collapsed in February during a training run outside Memorial Stadium died of a heart condition that has been a common cause of sudden deaths among athletes, authorities said Wednesday.
Ted Agu, 21, died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or excessive thickening of the heart muscle, according to the Alameda County coroner’s office. The ailment has killed many young athletes, including basketball players Hank Gathers and Reggie Lewis.
Agu collapsed during a supervised training run about 6 a.m. on Feb. 7. Team medical personnel noticed he was having a difficult time when he was about 150 yards outside the stadium.
They put him on a cart, where he was alert, but Agu collapsed when he got back to stadium. CPR started immediately and a defibrillator was used, authorities said. Emergency personnel came to the scene and transported the Cal junior to Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley, where he died.
It is not known whether Agu knew of the ailment, which is “generally not compatible with competitive athletics,” according to the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association.
Cal’s athletic department has established the Ted Agu Memorial Scholarship Fund to create a scholarship endowment for student-athletes. The university is accepting donations for the fund at calbears.com/tedaguscholarship/
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