H.S. Football Players In Plainview Get Hypothermia During Homecoming Game Saturday

October 31, 2011 8:18 PM

15 players were treated for hypothermia during Saturday’s game between JFK High School and rival Valley Stream. (credit: CBS 2)

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – It was a homecoming game that several local high school players will likely never forget.

More than a dozen football players from JFK High School in Plainview spent the last game of the season, and for seniors the last game of their H.S. careers, in ambulances and hospitals after suffering hypothermia symptoms on Saturday.

The freak October storm turned football fields across Long Island into frosty muddy messes, and when players from JFK and rival Valley Stream entered the locker room at halftime, more than a dozen student-athletes nearly collapsed, CBS 2′s Jennifer McLogan reported.

Coaches didn’t take any chances and called for the doctor and EMTs.

“I was one of the players taken to the hospital for precaution,” JFK player Rob Hymowitz told McLogan. “I was fine during the game — running around making plays. And once we came in, I was just non-stop shivering.”

Another JFK player, Shane Lenahan who was in an ambulance, told McLogan that he “ just broke down.” “I don’t usually get cold, but just … the coaches really helped, they gave us their jackets.”

Fifteen players were treated for hypothermia, while school administrators huddled. “Whether to suspend the game, delay the game … once the game starts, it is in the hands of the sports officials,” Todd Heimer of the NY State Public High School Athletic Association told McLogan.

The second half was canceled. The game did not affect the playoffs.

State guidelines mandate dressing in layers when the wind chill is 20 -36 degrees. When the wind chill reaches 10 to 19 degrees, players must cover heads and necks. When the wind chill drops -11 or colder there is an alert — no outside activity and practices and games must be canceled.

Saturday’s wind chill was 20 with horrendous conditions.

School districts say they will now review their decision-making and reconsider policies, for safety’s sake, regarding canceling games before they even start.

Four other high school football games were canceled in Nassau County Saturday and will be replayed. The players who suffered hypothermia symptoms have recovered and were back in school Monday.

Do you think the game should have been canceled earlier? Sound off below

H.S. Football Players In Plainview Get Hypothermia During Homecoming Game Saturday

hammerhead

weird they play football in the snow all the time up here in New England!
Tommy C

Ever hear of “Under Armor” ….for christ sake we played in below 0 weather when i was in HS . i’M NOT SURE WHO SAID THIS (PUSSIFICATION) of the american male . Your right on . Some one should check their vitamins and make sure the not taking their mothers Estrogen replacement meds ….Just Pathetic.Thier fathers must really be emabrassed or at least should be .
Happy days

When i was a kid we played baseball with darts, we laughed like heck when they stuck in the opponents arm. We used to throw gas on lakes and light them. We used to throw rocks at the girls head and throw bottles at our bus. We drove our bikes as fast as we could into my friends brick wall. Geez those were good times.

tim

are you in Attica or Rikers now
other then that funny comment

Happy days

very good & funny Tim-no I am a Dad now, and raise me boys to be reckless but gentlemen-i did all those things and more circa 1966-1972

Happy days

I’m not done…Boys/men were tougher then,,,i go off to work in the Va.shipyards in the 70s as a young man. I am working on some overhead pipes with asbestos all over my face-I say, “bossman, i got this asbestos all over me, what do i do?”…he said”i used to carry that stuff in my pocket when i was a kid, so shut up”. Guess what? i shut up, and look at me now at 51, strong as a horse.Lesson is, quit complaining, when it’s your time,..you die, but nobody dies from cold and rain and overwork. I was watching the History Channel, German Soldiers in Stalingrad…God Almighty—we humans can endure more than an hour in the snow, try 2 years.

dusty

I didn’t really understand where you were coming from until the “drove our bikes as fast as we could into a brick wall” bit….. Now I get it @_@

DrD

OK, so a typical late season day of football where I grew up, in northern Quebec. The problem would be?

Flashman1854

Exactamundo DrD.

Correct. Right on.

It’s football. It’s played outside. It’s played in the winter. It’s played by MEN (I don’t care the age, 11 or 21 they are men).

These guys are wimps. And I mean the COACHES.

Plus, what was the temp? Forget about the ‘wind chill’. It couldn’t have been that cold if it was WET. Right? So we know it was above 0 degree (C), 32 degrees (F). That ain’t cold fellows. Not for football.

Griff In MN

If any of these guys are college scholarship-worthy, I’d suggest they take a pass on the University of Minnesota (or Michigan, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Ohio State, Colorado…etc.)

beanocook

Or New York. This happened in New York. At least in minnesota the cold is dry. In NY it is always the wettest cold you can imagine, much worse.

frank lee

This was a complete over-reaction by the EMT’s. Did anyone consider, this was a half of football, maybe an hour, in 20 windchill. It should not have caused widespread hypothermia.When your tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail. Of course they are going to take you to the hospital as a precaution. That is what they do!! These kids were in no real danger. I’ll bet the other team didn’t consult EMT’s and had no one go to the hospital. I hope no one on the other team gets a flu, I see multiple lawsuits there.
Jeromette

Racism!
Jason

Pathetic. Put on a hat and gloves. I played in colder weather than this when I was 9 growing up in Buffalo.
Some Guy

BUSH’S FAULT
Kevin

The windchill was 20???!?!?!? That’s it??? The windchill was only 12 degrees below freezing?? I hunt and fish in windchills of 0, sure as heck these “athletes” can handle 20.

Heck our children go out trick-or-treating in worse windchills. Dress properly and it’s no problem. If you didn’t think ahead to dress properly, it’s your own damn fault.

Pansies.
dennis pavusek

CANCEL, It must be the coachs decision on the field.
Dan Short

Welcome to the world of Montana football—two games stand out. One it was 20 degrees below and the air was so dry, the players in the lights of the stadium looked as if they had halos.
Another it was over 20 below—closer to 30 I’m sure. The mascot for the other team was a buffalo—who was so cold they didn’t even have to make sure the poor bison had any drugs.
Unbelievably it was a game that was won by a 40 yard field goal that must have felt like a rock when he kicked it.
DET

In the past, if a game was to be played in subfreezing conditions, players who were concerned about the cold went out and put on a pair of pantyhose. No shame in that.

Mark Matis

Barney Frank now insists those panty hose must have an appropriately-located hole cut in them. Don’t work that well any more…

Lilith

The pussification of the American male.
Heather

Of course they should have cancelled it! There are so many more important things they could be doing with their lives than playing games.

Lilith

You are absolutely right. They should have been playing with their Barbies.

mica

LOL, good one. Playing with their barbies with penises. I hope this isn’t too politically correct to say.

John

Welcome to the Landscheidt Grand Minimum. No, it’s not about Global Warming and carbon dioxide. It’s about the sun and a natural cycle it’s transitioning to even as we shiver. The media is not talking because it’s not politically correct to challenge Al Gore’s view of the world. This was not a freak snow storm. It and others to follow are utterly predictable.
LesN

So, did any player from the other team complain of hypothermia?

Flashman1854

No, they were winning.

LEL MN

I’ll bet it was the 15 who sat on the bench for the game.

Carlo B.

exactly what I was thinking, im from southern california, our team traveled to new york and played when it was really cold, everyone on the bench was whining about how cold it was, the people playing were totally fine. I can’t believe there was only 15 people affected by hypothermia all from one team…sounds like someone was down at the half and didn’t have a way to win to me. If it was really that cold, the people watching the game would have complained more than a highschool football player

Dennis

who in the Hell thought playing a football game in 20 degree windchill with a snowy field in a game not vital to the playoffs in any fashion was so important it could not be delayed a few days? Our public school officials are morons – I’ll be the stands were packed too? Get real. As for dressing warmer, even simple precautions like long underwear, body suits and some warm air blowers on the sidelines would have prevented it all. In Ohio, they use these things and I’ve never heard of anyone getting this type of reaction, even in colder weather than this.

Flashman1854

You miss the point. It was WET. That means the temp was above freezing.

Jesus, if a guy can’t play football in above freezing weather he shouldn’t be on the damn team.

PS: don’t tell me about ‘wind chill’. It was wet, it was above freezing. It some climates this is BALMY for football players. (Me for one).

Roger Sunderlin

i grew up in new york.we used to go out in jeans, sweatshirts and rubber boots.stayed out all day.what has happened to the little boys.they couldn’t craw in bed with mommy to get warm.
elmer

coach sez- ahh, come on! take the game seriously! you could be the next OJ! player sez- but coach, OJ is in a federal prsion in Nevada! — aw- come on
DigitalBob

Shivering? Oh the horror…
Deacon Jones

Sounds like mass hysteria to me. Maybe mommy forgot to put Johnny’s mittens on the string in his uniform?
Wimps.
Meme Meyagi

what is done about 7 million terrorists living in usa?