Times wires
Friday, March 4, 2011
FENNVILLE, Mich. — One moment: a perfect shot to end a perfect season. The star player, 16, lifted up in celebration. Teenagers triumphant, crowds cheering, the district playoffs ahead.
The next: Wes Leonard on the gym floor, his enlarged heart failing, his life fading just a few moments after his victory layup. Packed bleachers stunned by an event that made basketball seem a distant, unimportant memory.
A day after Leonard died from an enlarged heart, this small town near Lake Michigan remembered an "all-American kid" whose athletic heroics had been local legend since middle school.
"He was a good kid, a good friend to have and a good person to hang around with," DeMarcus McGee, who played football and basketball with Leonard, said between sobs. "You never thought it could be him. He was so healthy. It shouldn't happen."
On Thursday evening, Leonard sent the ball through the hoop from close range with less than 30 seconds left in overtime. The shot gave Fennville High a 57-55 victory over Bridgman and a 20-0 regular season.
After the teams exchanged handshakes, Fennville players celebrated. Some tried to organize a team photo. That's when the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Leonard collapsed, with an estimated 1,400 fans watching.
"Thirty seconds earlier, he was laying in the winning bucket," basketball coach Ryan Klingler said. "And then 10 seconds later … everything's pulled out from under you, from out of nowhere."
Leonard was tended to first by a parent EMT, then he was rushed to Holland Hospital. Paramedics performed CPR, and doctors were unable to restart his heart after more than an hour. He was pronounced dead about 10:40 p.m.
An autopsy conducted Friday by the chief medical examiner for Ottawa County showed Leonard died of cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart. Medical examiner David Start said the stress Leonard placed on his heart through athletics could have played a role, but his death could not be easily explained. Leonard likely didn't know he had the condition.
"It shouldn't have been like this," teammate Adam Siegel said. "Too young."
Leonard was a three-year starter on the football team, first as a receiver then as a quarterback and defensive end.
"He had a personality that, when people were around him, they played better," said Tim Schipper, Leonard's football coach. "Everybody around him played better, because he was a leader and the best athlete."
Leonard played basketball as a freshman then spent two seasons as a starter.
"He was just an amazing kid," Klingler said. "What made him special is he had a passion about everything he did."
The Fennville team is scheduled to compete in the Class C district playoffs Monday, but officials at the high school with more than 400 students had not decided whether to play the game.
A visitation for Leonard is Sunday, with a funeral Tuesday.
Superintendent Dirk Weeldreyer remembered Leonard, whose mother, Jocelyn, is a choir teacher at the middle and high schools, as "the quintessential all-American kid."
"Beyond his outstanding athletic abilities, Wes was a better person," Weeldreyer said. "His fellow students liked and respected him. Their grief speaks volumes about the high regard in which Wes was held."