Incoming freshman football player Braeden Bradforth (19) at Garden City Community College died of undetermined causes Wednesday night after the team’s first day of conditioning drills, according to a report by The Garden City Telegram.
A teammate found Bradforth medically distressed in his dorm room and immediately alerted a coach who then called a certified trainer. The trainer called an ambulance. Bradforth was pronounced dead at the hospital at 11:30 p.m., according to GCCC head coach Jeff Sims.
There will be an autopsy performed on Bradforth, but Sims said an emergency room physician told him that Bradforth suffered from an existing medical issue that he may or may not have known and unrelated to athletics, per the report.
Bradforth arrived on campus Monday, and he was a recent graduate of Neptune High School in Neptune, New Jersey.
“It’s heartbreaking. You work at a college and you work as a coach to watch guys begin their future. Unfortunately, God has a different plan at times … We never know when our time will come. He walked around with a smile on his face and we enjoyed the time that he was here,” Sims said.
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
