Earlier this month, Tyler Ulrich, a safety for Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma, a Division II program, was hospitalized on Oct. 10 and died five days later from injuries suffered during a game.
Ulrich was injured during an away game against Ouachita Baptist University while involved in a group tackle, according to head coach Dustin Hada. Paramedics on site attended to Ulrich for nearly an hour on the field before he was transported to a nearby hospital.
The Garland County Coroner’s Office report said that he was “hit helmet to helmet causing the subdural hematoma.” An official cause of death came as coroners revealed he suffered a traumatic brain injury and a brain bleed.
The school previously described his death as the result of a “traumatic injury” but declined to provide further details. A spokesperson for the university told ESPN on Friday they had not yet received the coroner’s report.
School Releases New Statement
A spokesperson for the school issued a statement.
“Our university president, football team and coaches participated in a Celebration of Life service for Tyler last Sunday afternoon in Azle, Texas. The report you mentioned has not been provided to us,” it read. “Our campus community is faithfully remembering his family, teammates and coaches in our prayers.”
Dave Myrick, the team’s radio play-by-play announcer, didn’t seen anything unusual about the hit.
“There was nothing in the run of that play that made you go, ‘Oh man, that looked horrible,'” Myrick said. “Just a normal football play. And while I’m saying we got a player down, I see our players’ reaction to what they see, and that is when it kind of changed the tide, you know, in my tone. They were jumping up and down yelling for our medical staff to come on the field.”
Southern Nazarene opted not to play the following week before returning to play over the weekend in a 60-37 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
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