I recently read Jacob Carpenter and Abby Lubbers’ article MSU athlete injured after weekend fight (SN 10/22) and Joe Rexrode’s article “Police probe E. Lansing fight” in the Lansing State Journal. I was compelled to respond to both articles because three years ago, on Oct. 21, 2005, my 21-year-old cousin died from one punch.
He was playing the role of a peacemaker to break up a fight between his friend and another man. The other man sucker-punched my cousin and he fell backward on the cement. Several hours later my cousin died in the hospital.
According to the articles, student athletes were involved in the altercation. My cousin also was an athlete. He wasn’t able to perform at the collegiate level because he developed an arterial fibrillation, a heart arrhythmia, so he focused his athletic energies at the intramural level in college playing with his many friends and inviting athletes of all levels to participate so they, too, would experience the fun and the camaraderie.
After his death, Westfield State College established the John “Okie” O’Connell Award “to be given to an outstanding student athlete who best reflects John’s sportsmanship and athleticism.” For all involved in this altercation and the community as a whole, it would be worth their time to take a look at www.okie33.com to read about how one punch can change a lot of lives forever.
Meg Witt
2005 MSU graduate
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