Pulaski County High School varsity football player Andrew Dodson tragically passed away after he injured his head during a recent scrimmage game.
The Kentucky-based athlete was hospitalized after his school’s last spring football scrimmage.
His father reported to multiple news outlets that his son was injured from a simple tackle and not a violent no-helmet hit. “It was not a violent hit or helmet-to-helmet. It was a simple, clean tackle,” Alan Dodson explained. “His head hit the turf, and Andrew suffered blunt-force trauma to the brain.”
Since then, the Pulaski County community has outwardly mourned the loss of their student. “KHSAA is a family of its member schools, their administrators, coaches, teachers, and fans. But most importantly and as the primary focus, the student-athletes. Andrew Dodson was a member of this family. No words can explain, justify or rationalize tragedies such as these,” the Kentucky High School Athletic Association said in a statement issued on Monday.”
“We only ask for peace and comfort to all around him and around our great Commonwealth,” the statement continued. “We also encourage all to seek out family and friends to walk through this difficult time together and talk through all the emotions that come with losing a friend, brother, comrade, child, and teammate.”
Concluding, the association wrote, “We know in the hours, days, weeks, months and years ahead we will continue to remember his fighting spirit and passion for all things Pulaski County, as well as his deeply held beliefs about his time on earth and the following. We hold his family and friends close in these times and offer our deepest condolences.”
Kentucky mourns the loss of Andrew Dodson
In addition to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, the University of Kentucky Head Football Coach Mark Stoops offered his condolences to all those who had the chance to know Dodson.
“Our sympathies and prayers are with the family, friends, and teammates of Andrew Dodson, a member of the Pulaski County football team,” Stoops wrote in a statement issued on Twitter. “We are heartbroken by this tragedy and are deeply sorry for your loss.”
Dodson is also not the first Kentucky high schooler to pass away after a football injury. Matthew Mangine Jr. collapsed at St. Henry District High in Erlanger on June 16, 2020, and since then, his parents have urged for changes to be made to high school programs that implement safeguards on the sidelines.
Since his son’s death, Alan Dodson adamantly endorsed these protocols for schools around the nation.
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