Northwestern officials maintained Wednesday that performance-enhancing supplements were responsible for the death of former NU football player Rashidi Wheeler despite a possible $100,000 settlement between Wheeler’s family and supplement manufacturers.

“We continue to believe strongly that the cause of death for Rashidi Wheeler was that he ingested ephedra, which led to heart problems that led to his death,” said Alan Cubbage, NU’s vice president for university relations.

The settlement, if approved, would leave the university as the only defendant in the wrongful death suit being brought by Linda Will, Wheeler’s mother.

Under the proposal, three companies that produced and distributed ephedra — one of two supplements Wheeler took before he collapsed and died at an unauthorized preseason football practice in August 2001 — will share in paying $75,000 to Wheeler’s family. One company that filed for bankruptcy last year would pay an additional $25,000.

A federal judge in New Jersey, where the case was moved in February, will hear the settlement Oct. 18.

The money paid by supplement manufacturers Phoenix Laboratories, General Nutrition Corp. and Nutraquest Inc. will be used to set up the Rashidi Wheeler Foundation, said Will, Wheeler’s mother. The foundation will promote the humane treatment of student athletes and also will offer an annual scholarship.

“This is something we’ve wanted to do since the beginning,” said Will, who lives near Los Angeles. “We’ll probably get feedback from student athletes on what they feel will be a critical need. All of that is still in its infancy, so to speak.”

Other possible goals of the foundation include hosting an annual football game in the summer to raise awareness of student-athlete abuse and creating an award for coaches who provide a healthy environment, Will said.

Will has maintained throughout the lawsuit that NU coaches and trainers — not performance-enhancing supplements — were behind her son’s death.

Will claims in her suit against the university that the summer conditioning drill her son participated in was excessive and contributed to his death. After Wheeler collapsed, she said, NU was negligent and irresponsible in treating him, which served as grounds for the wrongful-death suit she brought against NU in 2001.

“This is a case of inhumane treatment,” Will said. “They were totally negligent.”

NU has maintained throughout the case that the performance-enhancing supplements Wheeler took before practice killed him. The university listed the companies that produced and distributed the supplements as co-defendants in 2003. A federal judge in Trenton, N.J., then plucked the case from Illinois and moved it to Nutraquest’s home state of New Jersey alongside 50 similar cases after that company filed for bankruptcy.

But if the New Jersey judge approves the settlement next month, Phoenix Labs, GNC and Nutraquest will be removed from the lawsuit as defendants. Any potential settlement or verdict against NU also would be reduced by $100,000. But without the drug companies as co-defendants, the case ultimately will return to Cook County Circuit Court.

“We think it’s important that the manufacturers and distributors of ephedra continue to be parties in this lawsuit,” said Cubbage, NU’s spokesman. “So we have a concern about that.”

Wheeler family attorney James Montgomery said the settlement could move the case forward again after about a year with no progress. It also brings the focus of the trial back to NU and away from the companies, he said.

“Assuming that it’s approved by the judge in New Jersey, it means that one, the case will be brought back to Chicago and, two, we will get back on track and pursuing the case with Northwestern,” Montgomery said.

Bringing the case back to Cook County helps maintain awareness of the case and will also make it easier to hear witnesses, Will said.

“You have 70-odd witnesses, and it happened in Chicago, so there’s no reason for it to be tried anywhere else other than Cook County,” Will said. “It’s where the tragedy occurred.”

Reach Dan Strumpf at [email protected].