Signing you in

1 of 3 | Calvin Dickey Jr., center, poses for a photo with his father, Calvin Dickey Sr., and mother, Nicole Dickey, in Tampa, Fla., on March 31, 2024. (Courtesy of Calvin Dickey Sr. via AP)

2 of 3 | Calvin Dickey Jr., right, poses for a photo with his father, Calvin Dickey Sr., in Tampa, Fla., on March 31, 2024. (Calvin Dickey Sr. via AP)

3 of 3 | Calvin Dickey Jr. poses for a portrait in his football uniform at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania on Dec. 9, 2023. (Calvin Dickey Sr. via AP)

Calvin Dickey Jr., center, poses for a photo with his father, Calvin Dickey Sr., and mother, Nicole Dickey, in Tampa, Fla., on March 31, 2024. (Courtesy of Calvin Dickey Sr. via AP)

Calvin Dickey Jr., right, poses for a photo with his father, Calvin Dickey Sr., in Tampa, Fla., on March 31, 2024. (Calvin Dickey Sr. via AP)

Calvin Dickey Jr. poses for a portrait in his football uniform at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania on Dec. 9, 2023. (Calvin Dickey Sr. via AP)

The parents of a Bucknell University football player who died after collapsing during the first day of training camp in 2024 said Tuesday they appreciated a decision by the Pennsylvania attorney general to bring criminal charges against the strength and conditioning coach who oversaw the session.

Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr. was a freshman in July 2024 when Mark Kulbis told him and other football players to do 100 “up-downs,” also known as “burpees,” along with full-body plank drills, according to the attorney general’s office. Dickey had sickle-cell trait, a medical condition that can increase the risk of serious injury or death following extreme exertion.

Prosecutors announced Monday that Kulbis had been charged with felony aggravated hazing and misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and hazing.

“While the death of Calvin Dickey is tragic, Mark Kulbis did not contribute to it and is not responsible for it,” his attorney, Barbara Zemlock, said in a written statement. “The strength and conditioning program that was implemented was appropriate and in accordance with the training that Mr. Kulbis received, and with applicable standards.”

After other deaths involving athletes with sickle-cell trait, the NCAA in 2010 began requiring that new Division I athletes be tested for the condition and alerting coaches that athletes with it should slowly build up their intensity while training and be provided adequate rest and recovery.

Dickey, who was 6-foot-5 (195 cm) and nearly 300 pounds (136 kg), had grown up playing sports and by his junior year of high school decided to focus on football, his parents said. He played both offensive and defensive lineman, meaning he was often in for the vast majority of the game.

According to a federal lawsuit they filed against Bucknell last year, they did not know he had sickle-cell trait until he took the mandatory screening just weeks before training camp. Calvin Dickey Sr. said that the day before camp was to start, he received assurances from the offensive line coach that his son would be protected.

But Dickey Jr. started struggling and passed out while doing exercises that Kulbis had assigned as a punishment for the players not performing drills correctly, the lawsuit said. He was hospitalized and died two days later.

While it is rare for coaches to be charged criminally in cases where athletes collapse and die, some have been.

In Georgia, a girls basketball coach and an assistant coach were charged with murder after 16-year-old Imani Bell suffered heat stroke and died in 2019 during a training session that was held outdoors despite a heat advisory being in effect. That case remains pending. The school district settled the family’s lawsuit for $10 million and agreed to rename the gym in her honor.

In 2009, a former Kentucky high school football coach was acquitted of reckless homicide and endangerment charges in the heatstroke death of 15-year-old Max Gilpin. Defense attorneys argued that the Gilpin’s medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had caused him to overheat.

Since his death, they have channeled their grief into a foundation that helps raise awareness about sickle cell trait in athletes and promotes the health of student-athletes. It provides scholarships and hosts a program for football linemen called “50 Cal Big Man Camp,” after the number he wore.

“Those are the kind of things right now that bring a smile to my face and touch my heart,” Nicole Dickey said. “We want to protect the next generation and share what we’ve learned.”

267 US launches new airstrikes on Iran, with Tehran firing back at 3 Gulf Arab states 4 MIN READ 2185 Judge orders E. Jean Carroll be paid $5.8M in Trump sex abuse and defamation case; Trump appeals 2 MIN READ 924 Trump flies partway home from Turkey in an old Air Force One, not the new Qatari-gifted jet 5 MIN READ 183 Outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite grows to more than 1,000 cases 4 MIN READ 59