A Northern California boy who collapsed and died after a youth league football practice in Garden Valley had asthma, but it is not clear if the child's condition contributed to his death, his grandfather said Tuesday.
Garden Valley Fire Department and Cal Fire units responded at 7:55 p.m. Monday to Golden Sierra High School in Sacramento, where the Golden Sierra Junior Grizzlies were having their first practice of the season.
Upon firefighters' arrival, the 11-year-old boy, Andrew Jacob Lamphere, was in full cardiac arrest and was taken to Marshall Hospital in Placerville. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
Ron Lamphere, the boy's grandfather, said his grandson went up to the coach and said he was not feeling well. He said the boy then fainted.
"He was a great kid," Lamphere said. "Everybody loved him."
Andrew played a couple years of soccer and was in his second season of football, his grandfather said. He said Andrew let his hair grow long and had cut it to benefit benefit Locks of Love, a group that provides hair pieces to disadvantaged children.
The Coroner's Division of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office is conducting an investigation into the death.
This article originally appeared on KCRA.com.
