Two days after the chief athletic trainer at North Carolina A&T State University told coaches to save money by not testing participants in an unofficial track-and-field tryout for the sickle-cell trait, an athlete in the tryout died of the condition, the Greensboro News & Record reported today. In an e-mail from August 2010, the trainer, Roland Lovelace, said the university’s health center was charging the athletic department for the test—which, as of August 1, the NCAA made mandatory—and directed coaches to reserve the test for only those athletes who had actually made the team. Two days later, 20-year-old Jospin (Andre) Milandu collapsed at the university’s track and died soon after. The North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office cited the sickle-cell trait as the cause of his death.
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24 Responses to North Carolina A&T Official Told Coaches to Skip Sickle-Cell Test 2 Days Before Athlete Died
panacea - January 7, 2011 at 6:49 pm
The track coach is “retiring” over this flap. The Athletic Director has already been fired.
The coach failed to get physicals, sickle cell testing, or waivers from all of the athletes trying out for the track team that day . . . in clear violation of NCAA rules.
It’s a royal mess.
amcleod6 - January 10, 2011 at 10:23 am
This story frightens any parent who has a student athlete who has the sickle cell trait. All of my children have the trait and all play sports. I have never been told that there is an increased risk of death for athletes who have the trait. I understand that the main point of the article is that NC A&T violated an NCAA rule, but I am commenting on the implication of the medical examiner’s ruling because that statement causes grave concerns (no pun intended). Did the athlete really die of complications related to sickle cell trait or, instead, sickle cell disease? Are we to believe that all children who have the trait and who take gym class for instance are at risk of dying in class? I notice that there is no mention of how strenuous the tryouts were or the weather conditions, i.e. other possible factors that contributed to the athlete’s death.
leeshperk - January 11, 2011 at 5:22 am
I agree with amcleod6. My twin sister carries the sickle cell trait as do many others in my family. As far as I know, trait carriers are only at higher risk if they marry/produce children with someone who has the trait, thereby raising the risk of passing on the actual sickle cell disease…which can be a very painful and serious disease. This article has a very accusatory tone to it, which is unfortunate because it only spreads fear of sickle cell and/or distrust of physical activity. Someone obviously didn’t do enough research before publishing this article.
txloopnlil - January 11, 2011 at 2:03 pm
leechperk needs do some research since it occurs in her family- Sickle Cell disease is a CO-dominant condition. Heterozygous individuals (Trait carriers) DO express the mutated form of hemoglobin, but the normal copy of the gene makes sufficient normal hemoglobin that heterozygotes are normally asympotomatic http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.12.020 but kidney problems and exercised induced death are known effects.
mgpena - May 23, 2012 at 3:57 pm
When I was a grad student at SDSU we received a campus security notice from the office of PUBIC safety – LOL easy error to make.
mwill1949 - May 23, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Just blame it on stupid auto-correct!
jbarman - May 23, 2012 at 4:06 pm
My institution once sent out an “all users” email apologizing for a plumbing problem in the administrative offices. The email concluded, not inappropriately, with:
“Sorry for the incontinence”.
And of course spell check would not catch this.
janebuck - May 23, 2012 at 4:18 pm
The spell checker should have caught the “eggregious” error, though.
22108469 - May 23, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Anyone who has written/typed a lot of copy knows what the most dangerous words are. “Public” is definitely a dangerous one, especially because of its frequent appearance in the names of well-known institutions.
helenv - May 23, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Auto correct will do it everytime! LOL!
11261884 - May 23, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Reminds me of a newspaper corrigendum (perhaps apocryphal) I read about that ran in a newspaper years ago, something like this:
In yesterday’s edition we mistakenly identified John Smith as a defective on the city’s police force. It should have read that he is a detective on the police farce. We regret the error.
11261884 - May 23, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Reminds me of a newspaper corrigendum (perhaps apocryphal) I read about that ran in a newspaper years ago, something like this:
In yesterday’s edition we mistakenly identified John Smith as a defective on the city’s police force. It should have read that he is a detective on the police farce. We regret the error.
observer1951 - May 23, 2012 at 5:35 pm
The error did not originate with the printer. No way — another error on the part of the University. Printers rarely read what they’re printing, and materials are never sent to the printer with the expectation that the printer will generate any of the text. Grant the impossible and the final responsibility still rests with the University — not the printer.
It’s a transparent case of passing the buck. They should have recalled The First Law of Holes: When you find yourself in one, stop digging.
studentteacher - May 23, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Have received more than one cover letter for internships where autocorrect changed the misspelling of definitely to defiantly: “I defiantly have the skills for the job.” I kind of like it ;)
My favorite is the resume where the degree was “English Ligature.” Still not QUITE sure if that was a typo or autocorrect or good old Freudian slip for English Literature…
22122118 - May 23, 2012 at 6:14 pm
The “First Law of Holes”? Please. In this context?
In fact, I loved it.
thewhirlpool - May 23, 2012 at 10:01 pm
I don’t think that was a slip. LBJ was big into pubics. I read it on the internet. originally his last two initials were GJ for Lyndon George Johnson. But, he changed his middle name to Baines just so he could have BJ in his name. He was quite the tramp.
11274135 - May 24, 2012 at 2:34 am
This error is so common that it almost has to be missed on purpose. My personal favorite currently is deficate spending.
dank48 - May 24, 2012 at 8:39 am
Hear, hear. Anyone who has anything printed without proofreading the copy first is responsible. Blaming the printer is even more pathetic than relying on a spell checker.
Beverly Sills’s autobiography Bubbles had the same typo, in the first sentence on the first page, years before spell checkers.
pflady - May 24, 2012 at 9:37 am
I remember a typo in my hometown newspaper that went the other way, yet perhaps had more than a bit of truth to it. A dancer in a local strip club was arrested for lowering her G-string and exposing her “public” area.
Socratease2 - May 24, 2012 at 12:51 pm
I can’t wait until the 2012 presidential erection is over, it just seems to go on and on.
11182967 - May 25, 2012 at 10:10 am
I may have mentioned here before the unfortunate necessity of pulping (fortunaely, prior to any distribution) several hundred college catalog covers which announced our institutional commitment to “Excellance.”
drquiles - May 25, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Thanks for the chuckles! Auto correct/ spell check would NOT catch the error because pubic IS a word. It is the proofreader’s job to pick up the error regarding word choice and let’s lighten up because everyone makes a mistake… Have laugh and let’s move on:-)
22277599 - May 25, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Delaying moving on for a moment, I always have to be careful of typing “curse” for “course” and “faulty” for “faculty.” Perhaps, at times, it is a curse, rather than a course, and the instructor is faulty.
11331315 - May 25, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Our college catalog came out several years ago with the college’s name misspelled on the cover. The budget could not afford a rerun, so it was distributed anyway. Not a lot of people noticed.