FENNVILLE, Mich. — One moment: a perfect shot to end a perfect season. The star player, just 16, lifted off the floor in celebration. Teenagers triumphant, crowds cheering, the district playoffs ahead, the future open wide.
The next: Wes Leonard on the gym floor, his enlarged heart failing, his life fading just a few moments after his victory layup. Packed bleachers suddenly stunned by an event that made basketball seem a distant, unimportant memory.
A day after Leonard died from an enlarged heart, this small town near
Lake Michigan remembered an "all-American kid" whose athletic heroics had been local legend since middle school, when opposing coaches sometimes asked to see his birth certificate, not believing someone so young could be so skilled.
"He was a good kid, a good friend to have and a good person to hang around with," DeMarcus McGee, who played football and basketball with Leonard, said between sobs. "You never thought it could be him. He was so healthy. It shouldn't happen."
On Thursday evening, Leonard sent the ball through the hoop from close range with less than 30 seconds left in overtime. The final shot gave Fennville High a 57-55 victory over Bridgman High and a 20-0 regular season.
After the teams exchanged handshakes, Fennville players celebrated. Some began scrambling to organize a team photo that would commemorate their undefeated record. That's when the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Leonard collapsed, with an estimated 1,400 fans watching.
"Thirty seconds earlier, he was laying in the winning bucket," said Ryan Klingler, basketball coach in Fennville, about 200 miles west of
Detroit. "And then 10 seconds later ... everything's pulled out from under you, from out of nowhere."
Leonard was rushed to nearby Holland Hospital, where paramedics performed CPR before he was pronounced dead. An autopsy conducted Friday by the
Ottawa County medical examiner showed Leonard died of cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart.
"It shouldn't have been like this," teammate Adam Siegel said. "Too young."
Medical examiner David Start said the stress Leonard placed on his heart through athletics could have played a role, but his death could not be easily explained.
YOU KNOW IT IS SAD THAT THIS YOUNG MAN'S LIFE WAS CUT SO SHORT IN LIFE BUT HE DIED DOING WHAT HE LOVED TO DO- PLAYING BALL. HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN SAY THAT THEY KNEW SOMEONE WHO DIED DOING WHAT THEY LOVED TO DO. IT IS SAD HE IS GONE BUT AT LEAST HIS FAMILY CAN SAY THIS HAPPENED AFTER HE WON THE GAME HE LOVED TO PLAY.
