Resigned! Roy Hessner, Fairbanks, Alaska (resigned Aug 2019) [3 football players almost drowned]

3 Alaska student-athletes hospitalized after pool accident

28 July 2019

Three Alaska student-athletes were transported to a hospital following a swimming accident during a football team training session. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Sunday that members of the West Valley High School football team had to be rescued from a University of Alaska Fairbanks pool. One student had been released from the hospital by 12 p.m. Saturday. An official says an ambulance responded to the university's Patty Center for a reported drowning around 7:30 p.m. Friday. The team had rented the pool for a two-hour conditioning session. A university spokeswoman says the students "were unresponsive after being rescued from the ...

https://www.ktva.com/story/40845731/3-alaska-studentathletes-hospitalized-after-pool-accident

 

1 student remains hospitalized after West Valley High School football team-building exercise at UAF pool

29 July 2019

Update, 4:45 p.m. Monday: A second West Valley High School student was released from the hospital on Sunday, said Sharice Walker, public relations director at Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. As of Monday afternoon, one student remained at the hospital, she said.

Original story: Two Fairbanks high school students who were sent to the hospital after participating in a football team-building exercise Friday night at a university pool remained “under medical observation but were alert and communicative” Sunday, according to a school district spokeswoman. One other student was released Saturday from the hospital. The three West Valley High School students were “interested in trying out for football,” according to Sharice Walker, public relations director at Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. They were participating in a team-building exercise at the University of Alaska Fairbanks pool during an “optional preseason activity” hosted by ...

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/201...-football-team-building-exercise-at-uaf-pool/



3 students hospitalized and West Valley football activities canceled after incident at UAF pool

29 July 2019

A swimming incident Friday night at the University of Alaska Fairbanks pool sent three high school football players to the hospital and resulted in the suspension of preseason activities for the West Valley High School football team, the Fairbanks school district said Saturday. One student had been released and two were still hospitalized as of noon Saturday, according to a written statement from the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. The West Valley football team had rented the pool for the evening, UAF spokeswoman Marmian Grimes said. Witnesses say students were treading water in the deep end of the pool ...

https://www.adn.com/sports/high-sch...tivities-canceled-after-accident-at-uaf-pool/



ASAA recommends West Valley football players practice with other programs

29 July 2019

Tragedy has befallen the West Valley football program. After a training exercise accident, three students required CPR and were transferred to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. Since then two students have been released, but one still remains in FMH. The incident involved the football program participating in an off-season workout, where the team used the University of Alaska Fairbanks swimming pool. 40 students were part of an exercise that involved them getting into the pool itself. The players were in the deep end of the pool, and after that, three students required life saving measures. UAF said in statement that one student ...

https://www.webcenter11.com/content...s-practice-with-other-programs-513367801.html

 

Alaska high school football players hospitalized after near drowning during 'team building exercise'

30 July 2019

Three Alaska high school football players were hospitalized after the nearly drowned during a conditioning workout in the pool which has also been referred to as a “team building exercise.”As reported by the Associated Press, three members of the West Valley High School (Fairbanks, Ak.) were hospitalized after nearly drowning in the deep end of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks swimming pool. Ambulances arrived at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks’ Patty Center around 7:30 Friday evening, per the AP and found three athletes who were, “unresponsive after being rescued from the deep end of the pool,”per a university spokesperson. While a lifeguard ...

https://usatodayhss.com/2019/alaska...italized-near-drowning-team-building-exercise



Alaska high school football players hospitalized after near drowning during 'team building exercise'

30 July 2019

Three Alaska high school football players were hospitalized after the nearly drowned during a conditioning workout in the pool which has also been referred to as a “team building exercise.”As reported by the Associated Press, three members of the West Valley High School (Fairbanks, Ak.) were hospitalized after nearly drowning in the deep end of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks swimming pool. Ambulances arrived at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks’ Patty Center around 7:30 Friday evening, per the AP and found three athletes who were, “unresponsive after being rescued from the deep end of the pool,”per a university spokesperson. While a lifeguard ...

https://usatodayhss.com/2019/alaska...italized-near-drowning-team-building-exercise



Alaska high school football players hospitalized after near drowning during 'team building exercise'

30 July 2019

Three Alaska high school football players were hospitalized after the nearly drowned during a conditioning workout in the pool which has also been referred to as a “team building exercise.”As reported by the Associated Press, three members of the West Valley High School (Fairbanks, Ak.) were hospitalized after nearly drowning in the deep end of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks swimming pool. Ambulances arrived at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks’ Patty Center around 7:30 Friday evening, per the AP and found three athletes who were, “unresponsive after being rescued from the deep end of the pool,” per a university spokesperson. While a ...

https://usatodayhss.com/2019/alaska...italized-near-drowning-team-building-exercise

 

West Valley football coach resigns after 3 students hospitalized during training

1 August 2019

West Valley High School head football coach Roy Hessner has resigned, according to a Thursday email to parents and staff from Karen Gaborik, superintendent of Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. Hessner’s resignation follows a swimming incident that occurred during what the school district previously called an optional preseason football activity hosted by seven members of the football coaching staff July 26 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Patty Center pool. During the activity, the school district said a “team building exercise” resulted in three of the approximately 40 participating students being transported to the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital after they ...

https://www.newsminer.com/news/loca...cle_a7a33094-b4be-11e9-bf46-7feed83053e8.html



Disturbing details about Alaska high school football players' near drowning: Coach called off lifeguard

1 August 2019

In a disturbing development from the ongoing investigation into the pool near-drowning of a trio of Alaska high school football players, eye witnesses have come forward to provide devastating details that the team’s coach may have played a direct role in endangering his student athletes. As reported by Fairbanks NBC affiliate KTVF, the West Valley High School (Fairbanks, Ak.) aquatic training exercise that went wrong was based on a scene from the legendary football pop culture film ‘The Program’ in which the athletes were told to wear a sweater into a pool, take it off while treading water in the ...

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Here’s the disturbing testimony in question from a pair of players on the team, who spoke to KTVF on the condition of anonymity.

“We got in on the wall, and then he [Hessner] told us to push off. For like the first five or like ten seconds everyone was like good I guess”, said Subject 1. “Then like 15 seconds in people were like just struggling, like struggling, struggling. There is kids screaming at the top of their lungs for help and everything and I was like kind of closer to the wall. So I just grabbed onto the wall because I just didn’t want to drown. So I got onto the wall and the lifeguard that was there she was trying to get in, but our head coach he told her, ‘It’s ok, they’ve got it on their own’. ”

“He already knew that kids couldn’t swim, and there were about three kids still holding onto the ledge”, said Subject 2. “They weren’t saying they didn’t want to do it, it was like they didn’t want to because before they got off the ledge it was already heavy with the sweater.”

“When I got out of the pool, and then I saw the lifeguard, she jumped in and then she came back up and she said she couldn’t grab him. At first I started crying, because I just didn’t know what was going on. They pulled one kid out and his arms were just stiff, he was just stiff. He wasn’t moving. I just started bawling my eyes out cause I genuinely thought he was dead. When they kept pulling more kids out, they pulled the last kid out I thought he was dead. Because he was purple and he wasn’t moving at all. Everyone there was pretty much bawling their eyes out and either mad or just sad that this was going on.”

”

If the accounts of the two student athletes in question are true, it would seem a virtual fait accompli that Hessner will not return to coaching at West Valley.

Via Google Cache: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rhQNmaVP4S4J:https://usatodayhss.com/2019/alaska-high-school-football-near-drowning-coach-told-lifeguard-no &cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us



New coach in place, last student out of hospital after Fairbanks high school football swim incident

1 August 2019

A new acting head coach is in place and a third student has been released from the hospital after a “swimming accident” during a Fairbanks high school football activity injured multiple students, according to a school district statement Wednesday. West Valley High School students were participating in a team-building exercise at the University of Alaska Fairbanks pool during an “optional preseason activity” hosted by football coaching staff Friday night, according to Sharice Walker, public relations director at Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. Three students became submerged in the water and were “pulled from the pool and transported via ambulance ...

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/fai...fairbanks-high-school-football-swim-incident/



West Valley (Ak.) football coach Roy Hessner resigns amidst tumult over near drownings

2 Aug 2019

The under fire head football coach of West Valley High School (Fairbanks, Ak.) resigned as the team’s controversial in-pool training methods came under the microscope and his alleged involvement was laid bare. According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Roy Hessner submitted his letter of resignation Thursday, just as the last of the three West Valley student athletes hospitalized after nearly drowning during a workout was released from a hospital. The coach will be replaced in the interim by acting coach Norm Davis, an elementary school teacher who has helped with the football and wrestling programs of a number of schools. ...

https://usatodayhss.com/2019/west-valley-coach-roy-hessner-resigns

 

Big, Dumb & Stupid !


West Valley Football team names new head coach

20 December 2018

West Valley High School formally welcomed their new head football coach, who will be taking over the program in the fall. Roy Hessner will be taking the reins for the Wolfpack beginning in 2019. Hessner, who spent 30 years in the Marine Corps, joined West Valley last February to serve as the Senior Marine instructor for their JROTC Program. Last football season he was an assistant for the Wolfpack boys while also serving as the interim head coach for the Flag Football team. Besides training Marines in combat for nearly 30 years, he also served as the Strength and Conditioning, ...

https://www.webcenter11.com/content...ball-team-names-new-head-coach-503301241.html

 

Big, Dumb & Stupid was also associated with a local fitness center -- CrossFit Fairbanks. Big, Dumb & Stupid does not appear on their current list of staff trainers.

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