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Latino Daily News

Monday March 14, 2011

Texas High School Basketball Standout, Robert Garza, 16, Collapses During Game and Dies

Texas High School Basketball Standout, Robert Garza, 16, Collapses During Game and Dies

Photo: Robert Garza, 16-year-old Collapses & Dies

Click Here to Enlarge Photo

South Texas high school basketball, Robert Garza player, collapses and dies without warning during a tournament in Austin, the 2nd such teen to do so within the last two weeks.

Garza, 16, was a junior at Roma High School (a Texas-Mexico border high school) and was playing this weekend in the AAU tournament representing club team, the Hoopsters.  He was courtside during a time out when he collapsed after getting a glass of water.  Earlier he had been playing and was feeling fine according to his coach Arnold Martinez.

After being administered CPR and taken to a local hospital Garza was pronounced dead an hour later.  An autopsy is planned to determine what happened. 

This tragic incident comes just a little more than a week ago when another 16-year high school athlete died suddenly while playing basketball.  Wes Leonard, a junior at Fennville High School, died on March 3 after cardiac arrest, moments after making a game-winning shot.

An autopsy determined he died of cardiac arrest from an enlarged heart.