Career Ending Injury – The Beginning of the Rest of Your Life
July 30th, 2009 - bySome terrible news came out of USC’s training camp and a young player’s football career was over before it even began. Incoming freshman Frankie Telfort from Miami has been diagnosed with a serious genetic heart condition that will prevent him from ever playing football at USC.
“This is obviously very difficult news for Frankie, his family and all of us in the football program,” Coach Pete Carroll said. “But we’re very thankful doctors discovered the issue before it led to anything worse.”
Telfort was examined by several of L.A.’s top cardiologists before flying to the Minneapolis Heart Institute last week for a final opinion. Heart specialists determined the 17-year-old had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that affects 1 in 500 Americans and is the most common cardiovascular cause of sudden death in the world. Telfort has consequently not received medical clearance to play football at USC, but discovering the problem at this stage most likely saved his life.
Even though his playing career at USC is over, Telfort will remain a part of the Trojan Family. Athletic Director Mike Garrett will honor his full scholarship, and Telfort is planning to continue on as a student at USC, with an expected graduation date of May 2013.
“Everybody’s football career unfortunately ends at some point and no one’s ever ready for it,” a solemn Carroll said. “For some guys, it comes sooner than expected. But you’re a football player and a Trojan for life, and Frankie is definitely both.”
Frankie’s situation shows exactly why recruits need to carefully consider their college decision and factor in athletic and academic ramifications. Frankie’s football career may be over, but the education he receives from USC will last the rest of his lifetime.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I think it’s great that Pete Carroll honored the young man’s scholarship even though he’ll never see the playing field. I think it’s important to understand the implications of that decision. If a student-athlete is offered a scholarship before his/her senior season and he/she verbally commits, will he/she still receive the scholarship? I’d suggest that that depends on the college coach. That’s why it’s so important that the student-athlete and family start this process early…. so they can get to know the coach well enough. In the event the student athlete suffers a career-ending injury senior year, will they still have college paid for? A family only gets those answers by being actively involved in the recruiting process from freshman year.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Congratulations to USC for doing the RIGHT THING!
August 5th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I am not a USC or Pete fan but this is a refreshing story. It is good to know that in this day of violations, recruiting criminals, and all the bad stuff we hear about that they did the right thing. God Bless them and the young man.