A longtime Mobile, Ala., high school football official died Thursday night on the sidelines of a game between Spanish Fort and Murphy High Schools at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
According to AL.com, David Anders, 73, died after suffering a medical incident on the sidelines at the game.
Anders was a youth football and baseball and official for years, as well as District Fire Chief in the Prichard Fire Department for a quarter of a century.
Anders was at the game football game to evaluate the working officials, a task done at multiple games every Friday night.
“We weren’t sure that night exactly what happened,” Kevin said. “All I knew was that he fell, and he wasn’t responsive on the sidelines,” Anders son Kevin told AL.com.
The incident happened at approximately 7:55 p.m. Spanish Fort led Murphy 34-0 with 3:25 left in the first half. The game was delayed approximately 30 minutes. When an ambulance arrived on the scene, Anders was transported to Mobile Infirmary.
The Alabama High School Athletic Association does not require emergency vehicles to be on site at football games, but director of communications Ron Ingram said it is encouraged.
Mobile County Public Schools does require emergency vehicles to be on site, as well as athletic trainers and medical staff at varsity football games. Thursday night, there were two doctors at the game who assisted with the situation until paramedics arrived.
AHSAA requires all schools to have an emergency action plan in place, and that plan should be discussed with the officials prior to a contest.
“We met him at the hospital,” Kevin said. “We thought initially he had some type of event that caused him to fall. All we really knew was that he had a severe brain bleed. I pulled up video of the game later and saw where he lost his balance when the play came his way as he backed up. He fell straight over backwards. That told us a lot. What we now think is that the fall may have exacerbated something he already had going on.”
Kevin Anders said a second CT at 3 a.m. Friday showed his dad’s condition had progressively worsened.
“There was no recovery,” he said.
Anders died at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
