Chiefs player suffers seizure...

[ChargerMike]

Posted on Fri, Oct. 07, 2005


Lineman rushed to hospital


Chiefs player stricken

Kevin Sampson reportedly suffers seizure in N.J.

By ELIZABETH MERRILL

The Kansas City Star


Four days after making his first start with the Chiefs, offensive lineman Kevin Sampson was in a New Jersey hospital Thursday after reportedly suffering a seizure.

Chiefs coaches spent the day trying to cobble together information on Sampson. By late Thursday, coach Dick Vermeil confirmed that his second-year right tackle was in a hospital in Sampson’s home state. But Vermeil didn’t know much more than that.

Vermeil said the Chiefs were still waiting for their doctors to receive permission to talk to the physicians in New Jersey. He said hospital officials would not speak to them until the hospital officials had reached Sampson’s parents.

Calls by The Star to Sampson’s parents weren’t returned Thursday night.

“I’m very, very concerned,” Vermeil said.

“I’ve been trying all afternoon to get information. I haven’t heard from anybody.”

Neither had Sampson’s agent, Joe Linta, who was hoping to meet Sampson tonight at the Syracuse-Connecticut game. Syracuse is Sampson’s alma mater, and he was home to catch up with friends and relax during the Chiefs’ bye week.

Linta called Sampson’s cellular phone four times Thursday night and didn’t get an answer.

“I’m shocked, I’m praying, and I’m frantically trying to get hold of someone,” Linta told The Star.

A spokesman at St. Mary Hospital in Hoboken, N.J., declined to describe Sampson’s condition to a Star reporter. Linta also was denied information on his client.

The Jersey Journal in Jersey City reported in today’s editions that Sampson, a 6-foot-4, 312-pound right tackle, called 911 about 10 a.m. Thursday and said he didn’t feel well.

When an ambulance arrived at an apartment building in Hoboken, Sampson asked to go to a hospital and then collapsed, paramedics told The Journal. Sampson was sent to the emergency room at St. Mary, passing in and out of consciousness.

The Journal said Sampson reportedly had suffered a seizure.

Lamonte Winston, the Chiefs’ director of player development, told The Journal that Sampson’s collapse was “not at all drug- or steroid-related.”

Sampson, 24, was an all-state lineman at Westwood High School in New Jersey and started 24 games for Syracuse.

He blocked for a 1,000-yard rusher all four years in college, and the Chiefs made him a seventh-round pick in 2004. He was a quick study and played six games as a rookie.

After a strong training camp this summer, Sampson was elevated to the starting lineup. But he suffered a turf-toe injury in a preseason game at Minnesota and sat for the season opener against the Jets.

Sampson made his first start Sunday, and the offense struggled in a 37-31 loss to the Eagles. The Chiefs have played three weeks without 10-time Pro Bowl tackle Willie Roaf, and quarterback Trent Green was sacked three times Sunday.

After the game, Sampson sat at his locker and said he was ready to go home for a break.

“We still believe we’ve got a really good team,” Sampson said.

“Going into the bye week, I think people are going to do whatever they do, clear their heads for a little bit, clean up some bumps and bruises and see their families. We’ll come back ready to play (Washington).”




http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 838357.htm

[BSmack]

Lamonte Winston, the Chiefs’ director of player development, told The Journal that Sampson’s collapse was “not at all drug- or steroid-related.”

Nope. No siree. He is not, I repeat not on steroids or drugs. I know nobody has asked, but I thought I'd go ahead and make that clear. Not on steroids or other drugs.

24 year old athletes collapse all the time.

Given that his name is not Willie Roaf, I'm guessing that whatever drugs might be involded did NOT enhance his performance.