Dale Lloyd: Adopting an Owl’s Cause

There are occasions on which you have to eliminate the bluster from the posts about your inter-city rival.  Obviously, this is one such instance.  The case of Dale Lloyd is relatively well known.  Since Fourth and Fifty didn’t exist three years ago (the interwebs was a much lonelier place back then) allow me to offer the refresher.

Dale Lloyd was an two-sport star at Lamar High School before enrolling at Rice University.  He played on Special Teams against the Cougars of the University of Houston on September 9th, 2006.  This is his only playing time credit listed on his player bio.

On Sunday, September 24th 2006, Dale Lloyd collapsed on the field during a light workout for the Rice Football team.  He hadn’t complained about any specific pain, but had told trainers he didn’t feel normal.  He was taken to the hospital but died early the next morning.  His death remained a mystery (memorial page).

When the autopsy was completed they surmised that he was a carrier of the Sickle Cell Trait which ultimately contributed to Lloyd’s untimely passing. If you are like me and kinda/sorta know what the sickle cell trait is but want to know more, there’s always wikipedia.

The family filed suit with the NCAA and Rice University which, nearly three years later, has been settled.  Most of the details of the settlement remain confidential, but MyFoxHouston has some information as to the parameters of the NCAA’s promotion of sickle cell testing in current and future student-athletes:

– Amend its Sports Medicine Handbook Guideline 3c to state that while Sickle Cell Trait screening is normally performed on all U.S. babies at birth, some student-athletes may not know if they have the trait. Following recommendations from NATA and CAP, the NCAA recommends athletics departments confirm Sickle Cell Trait status in all student-athletes, if it is not already known, during their required medical examinations.

– Donate $50,000 to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America in the name of Dale Lloyd II, which the family requested. The association will use the funds to provide awareness, education and screening for Sickle Cell Trait in the athletic population.

– Contribute $10,000 to the Dale Lloyd II Scholarship Fund.

– Prepare an educational video about Sickle Cell Trait to appear on the NCAA website and make it available to member schools.

– Stress a point of emphasis on the Sports Medicine Handbook Guideline 3c in regular preseason communication with media prior to the 2009 football season and in the football rules book.

[MyFoxHouston]

Our thoughts are with the Loyd family this afternoon.  We hope the cause that they have championed will be one that the NCAA will sustain and will hopefully prevent such another tragedy.  Preventative testing for things such as the sickle cell trait need to be part of the regimen of physical exams leading up to a students participation in athletics.  It’s a shame that the NCAA “can only recommend that schools do it – not mandate it.”

- Septimus Rex

[Picture from the Dale Lloyd Memorial Page]

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