Blood test results released Monday found a banned stimulant in the system of Northwestern University football player Rashidi Wheeler, but the Cook County’s medical examiner concluded the substance did not contribute to the player’s Aug. 3 death on a school practice field.
Cook County Medical Examiner Edmund Donoghue said Wheeler, a lifelong asthmatic, died from a “classic case of exercise-induced asthma.”
The ruling came as Evanston police reports disclosed that Wheeler and three teammates who collapsed at a workout that day allegedly took a performance-enhancing substance banned in college football. Michael Rose, an intern trainer, told an Evanston detective just hours after Wheeler’s death that “these players were taking the same dietary supplements as the victim.”
The police report identified two of the players as Brandon Evans and Kevin Lawrence. Lawrence, a senior running back, was Wheeler’s roommate. Evans is a junior who played mostly on special teams last season.
Rose was unable to identify the third player, according to the report. Evans and Lawrence, who are practicing with the team in Kenosha, could not be reached. A spokesman for the athletic department said Monday that the players were made aware of the statements contained in the police reports and likely would not discuss them.
While Donoghue’s ruling appears to clear up the role of ephedrine in Wheeler’s death, it adds to the ongoing debate about the football drill and–coupled with the fresh police accounts of what happened that day– it adds to questions about how many NU players take banned supplements.
Donoghue said that based on blood tests and police accounts, he believed the ephedrine found in Wheeler’s system came from a supplement and not from an asthma medication. He said Wheeler used an L-shaped asthma inhaler, which did not contain ephedrine.
According to police reports, head football trainer Tory Aggeler “stated that he was informed that several players, including the victim, were taking dietary supplements to enhance their performance on the field.”
Aggeler obtained containers of Ultimate Punch, a supplement banned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and of Xenedrine, a dietary supplement also banned by the NCAA, from an unidentified Northwestern player and gave them to police detectives shortly after Wheeler died, according to the police reports.
Donoghue said the amount of the stimulants in Wheeler’s system was below lethal levels. “It was in the amount you would expect to see in a person who took the recommended dosage,” he said.
The supplement in question contains ma huang, which is an herbal ephedrine, and guarana, another energy-enhancing herbal product. While Ultimate Punch and other supplements are available over the counter, ephedrine is banned by the NCAA.
Previously, a Northwestern player had said he witnessed players taking a dietary supplement before the workout and another player said that he heard teammates talking about using the stimulant Ultimate Orange, which is similar to Ultimate Punch. The university has said it was investigating use of such substances by football players.
The university discourages the use of dietary supplements, and in a handbook given to all athletes, suggests they consult a trainer before taking any.
NCAA athletes who are found to have taken banned drugs could lose their college eligibility.
The Aug. 3 workout also may have been in violation of NCAA regulations on voluntary preseason workouts. Videotapes taken by the university show it to be a regimented set of drills–a possible violation of standards that say such practices should be set up by the players themselves and should not be recorded for review by coaches.
Wheeler’s family has questioned the university’s actions, focusing mainly, however, on whether he received prompt and adequate medical care. Rev. Jesse Jackson on Monday said he and Wheeler’s mother, Linda Addison-Will, would be meeting Tuesday with NU President Henry S. Bienen to discuss the player’s death.
“The talk of a supplement being ingested has been a diversionary tactic by someone to limit the university’s liability,” Jackson said. “But I believe the president of the university has integrity and would do nothing to cover up Rashidi’s death.”
Randall Schwartz, a lawyer for Wheeler’s mother, said Wheeler died because trainers allegedly delayed up to 25 minutes before calling for an ambulance.
“The medical examiner’s ruling really doesn’t change much,” Schwartz said. “It’s not what got him gasping for his last breath but what happened between that point and the time of his death. It was a delay of medical care.”
University officials declined to comment on Monday.
The Evanston police reports had been requested under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act by media outlets and by Addison-Will’s lawyers. The lawyers received copies on Monday and passed them along to the Tribune.
Players previously have said some of their teammates took stimulants, believing they could help them get through the workout, which consisted of a series of wind sprints: 10 100 yards, eight 80 yards, six 60 yards and four 40 yards.
According to the police reports, Aggeler said that Wheeler complained during the 60-yard sprints of shortness of breath.
“Aggeler related that the victim was taking short, rapid breaths and went to the ground on his hands and knees and seemed disoriented and wanted to lay down,” the police report says.
Aggeler told detectives that he assisted Wheeler and that the player’s breathing seemed to come under control. He said he left Rose, an intern trainer, to attend to Wheeler for “a few moments,” when Rose informed him the player’s breathing had worsened, according to the police report.
Wheeler became “unresponsive and seized,” according to Aggeler’s account to police. Aggeler then called 911 using a cellular telephone because an emergency field phone was inoperable.
Rose could not be reached for comment, and Aggeler has previously declined to discuss the events surrounding Wheeler’s death.
The police report indicates, for the first time, possible use of Xenadrine by Northwestern players.
Xenadrine, which contains 335 milligrams of mahuang, is primarily marketed as a weight loss product and is supposed to work by increasing thermogenesis or converting more food consumed into heat before it can be stored as fat. But it’s also being used by athletes who believe the product can enhance performance and it has been promoted by NFL stars, such as league MVP Marshall Faulk. The NFL, however, recently forbade its players from endorsing any company that makes a product on the league’s list of banned substances. It is considering added ephedra to its list of banned substances.
Athletic director Rick Taylor has told coach Randy Walker to stop the conditioning drill until an internal university review of Wheeler’s death is completed.
