MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -
Hearts are heavy as friends and family mourn the death of an athlete who collapsed and died after participating in the Alabama Special Olympics games in Troy over the weekend.
WSFA 12 News was given access to the preliminary autopsy results that show 20-year-old Aaron Boyd had some previously undetected heart issues.
Boyd was a student at the Alabama Institute of the Deaf and Blind. His teachers there describe him as a stellar athlete. Boyd was said to be a star athlete in track, basketball, volleyball and powerlifting. "He was very competitive and I remember that in one game he hit two 3-pointers in a row to win the game for us," Coach Sylvester James said. "He was lucky enough to do what he enjoyed most – sports. Aaron was always the first person there to help load the bus or do whatever needed to be done."
Boyd would have been a senior at the Helen Keller School next year.
"His death comes as such a shock to all of us. He spent the morning laughing, talking and hanging out with his friends and coaches," Coach James added.
Boyd completed the 100 meter track event Saturday, but started having seizures. Emergency technicians were unsuccessful in reviving the young man. Boyd was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Special Olympics organizers say this is the first time anything like this has happened at the
Alabama games. Athletes must have medical clearance to compete in the games.
Aaron Boyd's family is from Wedowee in Randolph County. A memorial service has been set up for Thursday at the Midway Community Life Center. The time is scheduled for 1:00pm.
The Aaron Boyd Memorial Fund has been established in the AIDB Foundation and gifts may be sent to P. O. Box 698, Talladega, AL 35161.
The Helen Keller School will plan an event in the fall to plant a tree on campus as a celebration of Boyd's life. HKS Principal Christy Atkinson said, "Aaron was such a strong young man, we'll have to plant a big oak tree to represent what he meant to us."
Copyright 2012 WSFA 12 News. All rights reserved.
Aaron Boyd (Courtesy: Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind)
Aaron and two friends pose for a photo Saturday just before his meet. (Courtesy: Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind)
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