Oklahoma State basketball player Tyrek Coger died on Thursday after collapsing, the school announced. Coger was immediately transported to Stillwater Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m.
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Coger was a junior college transfer from Cape Fear Community College.
The 6-8 Coger played at Upper Room Christian Academy in Raleigh, where he at was teammates with his friend, former N.C. State guard Rodney Purvis, before transferring in August 2012 to Quality Education in Winston-Salem. “Losing a member of the team is like losing a member of the famil…”
The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office says Oklahoma State basketball player Tyrek Coger died from an enlarged heart and that the manner of death was natural.
There is a “Remember the 10” memorial outside OSU’s stadium, and each year a race is held to honor those who died. They did confirm that he underwent health evaluations before joining the team, however.
He had severe headaches in high school which led to him being forced to have fluid removed from his brain.
OSU spokesman Gary Shutt said that Coger didn’t appear to be struggling during the workout and he sat down afterward.
Holder said he also had questions about what occurred but didn’t have any answers yet.
Shutt noted that the NCAA allows for eight hours of team workouts each week during the summer, part of which can be spent outdoors. Although Coger was on campus a little more than two weeks, Underwood said he had made friends in the program and was known to be a fun-loving guy.
The newspaper reported that Coger had to go back and forth between Eastern Florida State College and Raleigh to obtain the necessary medical clearances to resume his basketball career.
Ten people, including two men’s basketball players, six staffers and two pilots, were killed when their airplane crashed during a snowstorm as the team returned to Stillwater after a road game in Colorado in 2001. Wall wrote: “Rest in Peace to the lil homie who always had the competitive spirit. you will be missed Tyrek”.
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“Everything he’s been through, it’s a shame that it had to happen this way, but he’s such a nice young man”, Mantlo said.
