GRAPELAND, Texas (AP) -- A high school football player injured when lightning struck the team as it finished practice has died of severe burns, authorities said.
Russell Pennington, a senior at Grapeland High School, died Wednesday in a hospital. He was among about 40 players and coaches with the team in east Texas who were hospitalized after the lightning bolt struck Tuesday afternoon.
Other injured players were treated for soreness, headaches, abdominal pains and burns, and all had been released Wednesday.
One coach was listed in good condition, hospital officials said.
Assistant coach Jerry Richards said about 40 players were running sprints when the bolt struck one player in the middle of the pack and others hit the ground.
"It staggered everybody," he said. "The force of it either knocked you down or knocked you backward several feet."
Grapeland, a town of about 1,500, is about 120 miles southeast of Dallas.
Yikes
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Wow....what the hell? Were they playing on flat plains or something? Wasn't there a goal post or something the lightening would have (or rather should have) hit instead of a player?
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I'm curious about if they knew there were storms nearby or not. It's possible that this could have been a bolt out of a (seemingly) clear sky and lightning has been known to strike miles away from the storms. But then again they might also have been running sprints when large dark clouds were looming and everybody in this little possibly bumblefuck town have their heads in the sand about it. The article doesn't give any details at all about it.
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Mayabird wrote:I'm curious about if they knew there were storms nearby or not. It's possible that this could have been a bolt out of a (seemingly) clear sky and lightning has been known to strike miles away from the storms. But then again they might also have been running sprints when large dark clouds were looming and everybody in this little possibly bumblefuck town have their heads in the sand about it. The article doesn't give any details at all about it.
Lightning can travel tens of miles laterally on the way down. It could be a freak thing, or they could just have metal rivits in their helmets.
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I thought lightning only hits the tallest objects in the immediate area? Was there any structure or tree or whatever taller than the soccer players around the field? And actually the fact that you say it struck the field itself doesn't make any sense since it should have hit a player if there indeed was nothing taller than the player around, right? I'm a bit confused.
Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him? -Obi-Wan Kenobi
"In the unlikely event that someone comes here, hates everything we stand for, and then donates a big chunk of money anyway, I will thank him for his stupidity." -Darth Wong, Lord of the Sith
IRG CommandoJoe wrote:I thought lightning only hits the tallest objects in the immediate area? Was there any structure or tree or whatever taller than the soccer players around the field? And actually the fact that you say it struck the field itself doesn't make any sense since it should have hit a player if there indeed was nothing taller than the player around, right? I'm a bit confused.
Not necessarily. It's just that taller objects have a greater likelihood of getting hit. While they have a higher percentage of getting hit, there is obviously still a chance it hits a smaller object.
Also, I believe it's Retief Goosen of South Africa, and PGA golfer, who was struck twice on the golf course on two different days in perfectly fine weather. Lightning can strike anywhere at anytime, and unfortunately for Goosen, it can strike twice
IRG CommandoJoe wrote: And actually the fact that you say it struck the field itself doesn't make any sense since it should have hit a player if there indeed was nothing taller than the player around, right?
Again, no. I'm sure you've watched a thunderstorm and lightning doesn't always hit trees and houses do they? A lot of times, indeed most of the time, it strikes the ground.
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CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Lightning can travel tens of miles laterally on the way down. It could be a freak thing, or they could just have metal rivits in their helmets.
I recognize this, but whenever I hear about something happening in a small town I automatically wonder if criminal incompetance/stupidity is involved. It could have just been a freak event (and I have heard about people being struck my lightning on the golf course where the nearest storm was ten miles away) but I do know that small towns have a culture of pretending that everything is good when it is not. My suspicions especially come up when football arises. The article doesn't say if it was an accident or not. It's just my paranoia kicking in.
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Yes, this rings a bell, happened down south once, entire team of (IIRC) school kids playing football you know the one I mean, the good one , soccer , I think the pitch was waterlogged, lightning struck and they all got knocked unconscious. Don't think anyone was seriously injured, but it was years ago.
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CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Lightning can travel tens of miles laterally on the way down. It could be a freak thing, or they could just have metal rivits in their helmets.
I recognize this, but whenever I hear about something happening in a small town I automatically wonder if criminal incompetance/stupidity is involved. It could have just been a freak event (and I have heard about people being struck my lightning on the golf course where the nearest storm was ten miles away) but I do know that small towns have a culture of pretending that everything is good when it is not. My suspicions especially come up when football arises. The article doesn't say if it was an accident or not. It's just my paranoia kicking in.
I read (on another board - so how true this was is uncertain) that the nearby lightning detector was checked and showed that no risk exists. Question for the board - how do these things work and how reliable are they?
Freak lightning strikes do occur. A perfectly dull clowdy day, no hint of bad weather. BOOM, lightning struck and fried both computers in the house.
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If there was lightning of any kind in the area, they should have called off practice, period. Even the NFL postpones games for lightning, if nothing else. I'd like to know what the weather was when the lightning struck -if it's a freak thing or the coach being an asshole.
, I think the pitch was waterlogged, lightning struck and they all got knocked unconscious. Don't think anyone was seriously injured, but it was years ago.
