A McCormick junior died early Sunday due to a pre-existing heart condition after rushing the football field to celebrate Northwestern’s win over Ohio State.
Frederick Lieb, 20, nicknamed Rick, from Crestview, Fla., was pronounced dead at Evanston Hospital at 12:35 a.m., police said.
According to a statement by Evanston Police Department released Sunday, Lieb collapsed shortly before midnight in the northwest corner of the stadium after running down from the upper deck of Ryan Field.
Lieb, who had a pacemaker, complained to a friend that he felt short of breath immediately before he collapsed, according to statements from the university and EPD.
He received CPR from security personnel and a doctor and was taken to Evanston Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Lieb, a chemical engineering major, died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, said an official from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
“Our condolences and deepest sympathies go to Rick’s family and his friends,” University President Henry Bienen said in a statement. “It saddens all of us greatly when we lose a member of the Northwestern community, and particularly so in these circumstances.”
University officials and counselors met Sunday afternoon with Lieb’s friends and members of Foster House, the residence hall where he lived. Plans for services have not yet been finalized.
Foster House President Vivek Kumar said the dorm cancelled an upcoming social event because of Lieb’s death.
“We’re all surprised and sad by what happened,” said Kumar, a McCormick sophomore who lived on the same floor as Lieb.
Francis J. Klocke, director of NU’s Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute, said hypertensive cardiovascular disease usually occurs in adults who have a history of high blood pressure. Klocke said both the disease and high blood pressure are “uncommon” in people of Lieb’s age. In younger people, high blood pressure usually is a “secondary” problem resulting from some other medical condition, whereas in older adults it is usually considered a “primary” condition.
The student section emptied onto Ryan Field Saturday night after NU’s football team beat Ohio State in overtime 33-27 — the first victory over the Buckeyes since 1971. The number of students attending the game was not available Sunday, but the stadium was filled to capacity and some students said they were turned away from admission because the game was sold out.
“To have something like this happen is truly tragic,” said Alan Cubbage, vice president for university relations. “It was a really wonderful evening and a great football game and to have something like this happen at the end of it like this is a real loss. Northwestern students are remarkably bright and good students and and clearly have a lot to give yet in their lives, so to lose one at an age like this is a very, very unhappy circumstance.”
Reach Alison Knezevich at [email protected] and Dan Strumpf at [email protected].
The Daily’s Scott Gordon contributed to this report
