The family of a Bucknell University football player who died after his first football practice last July has filed a lawsuit against the school, Bucknell officials and athletic staff, alleging his death was the result of a hazing ritual for freshmen players.

Calvin “CJ” Dickey, 18, was doing “up-downs” with his teammates in the Lewisburg, Pa., school’s Pascucci Team Center on July 10, 2024, when he collapsed, according to the lawsuit that was filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia County on Wednesday.

Dickey died two days later after being treated at a hospital for a high heart rate before being diagnosed with “exercise collapse associated with sickle cell trait,” rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure, according to an autopsy report issued in January by Montour County and obtained by NPR.

Rhabdomyolysis, also called rhabdo, is a condition when proteins and electrolytes from damaged muscle tissue are released into the bloodstream, straining the kidneys. Doctors warn that sickle cell trait, an inherited blood disorder, can be fatal when coupled with rhabdo.

In the lawsuit, Dickey’s parents, Calvin Dickey Sr. and Nicole Dickey, and their attorney, Mike Caspino, say Bucknell athletic trainers and coaches knew their son had sickle cell trait and “failed to take the steps necessary” to ensure precautions were in place to prevent harm. They say they want the school and athletic staff to take accountability for his death and to provide a full account of what happened leading up to it.

“We have asked repeatedly for not just a high-level overview of what happened that day, but for the details, the specific fully transparent details of what happened to him that day,” Nicole Dickey tells NPR.

“We’ve reached the point with Bucknell where we do not feel that we’re going to get that,” she says. “The only path for us to get that truth is to file the civil lawsuit.”

CJ’s mother adds, “We’re doing this for our child because for us … like a big piece of my heart is gone. I have got to get justice for my child.”

During a press conference after the lawsuit was filed, Caspino claimed Bucknell is “doing everything it can to hide the facts surrounding CJ’s death.”

“I dare to ask, what in the world are they hiding? What is so bad that they can’t tell the parents, the grieving parents of a son who died, what happened and don’t want to share it with the world?,” he said.

What the lawsuit alleges

Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr. with his dad, Cavin Dickey Sr., during a visit to Bucknell University in November 2023.

Nicole Dickey/Calvin and Nicole Dickey

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Nicole Dickey/Calvin and Nicole Dickey

Dickey arrived at Bucknell on the morning of July 10, 2024, where he was set to attend a team meeting, to meet with medical staff, have a “walkthrough” practice outdoors and go to the Pascucci Team Center gym for “a light workout with no weights” in the afternoon, according to the lawsuit.

Once in the weight room, Dickey and other players were told to do the up-downs, an exercise where a person quickly goes down to the ground in the form of a pushup and stands back up, as a form of punishment because some of the freshmen athletes had “‘messed up’ on some drills,” the lawsuit says.

Mark Kulbis, a strength and conditioning coach at the time who was present during the workout, pushed Dickey to continue doing 100 up-downs even though he was struggling and appeared to be in distress, witnesses, including students, say according to the lawsuit. And an athletic trainer was not present during the workout as required by NCAA protocols, the lawsuit says.

The suit alleges “it is an annual rite of passage” for freshmen to perform “intense, rigorous exercises that more senior players are not required to perform. No purpose is served other than gratuitous cruelty. … Each must perform or be benched or cut. For CJ, that proved fatal.”

It also alleges that Bucknell President John Bravman, Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine Ian Wood, Interim Vice President and Director of Athletics and Recreation Tim Pavlechko, Head Coach Dave Cecchini and then-Athletic Director Jermaine Truax, knew of Kulbis “cruelly abusing freshman players on the first day of practice” and that they “approved of and condoned Kulbis’ reckless conduct.”

Three months after Dickey’s death, another freshman offensive lineman “suffered rhabdomyolysis following one of Kulbis’ abusive conditioning sessions,” the lawsuit also alleges. “That player survived but suffered serious injury.”

Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr. in his dorm room at Bucknell University on Jul. 9, 2024, a day before he collapsed at football practice.

Calvin and Nicole Dickey

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Calvin and Nicole Dickey

Bucknell told NPR in a statement, “the death of a student is always a tragic loss” and it is aware of the lawsuit.

“While the University will not comment on pending litigation, we again extend heartfelt sympathies to CJ’s family, and we will continue to focus on our most important priority — the health and safety of all Bucknell students,” the university said in a statement.

Asked about allegations in the lawsuit and whether he knew Dickey had sickle cell trait, Kulbis told NPR: “Obviously, a tragedy. You know, my heart goes out to that family … just terrible” and declined further comment.

NPR also reached out to Truax, Cecchini, Pavlechko and Wood for comment on Wednesday but has not received a response.

A rare and fatal combination

Dickey played sports since he was 5 years old, including Little League Baseball, while living in Tampa, Fla., according to his family. But as he got older, football became the aspiring pharmacist’s passion.

“It was like a natural wildfire for him. He just gravitated toward football,” Calvin Dickey Sr. says.

Dickey was healthy and did not have any illnesses while playing sports but was diagnosed with sickle cell trait through mandatory NCAA testing before his first day at Bucknell, his family says.

Sickle cell trait is inherited from a person who has a sickle cell gene, and while it can be found in anyone it is prominent in Black and Latino Americans. About 1 in 13 babies in the U.S. who are Black are born with sickle cell trait, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. People with the trait may not have symptoms but can have periods of pain like those with sickle cell disease. All babies born in the U.S. are screened for sickle cell trait and sickle cell disease, according to the American Society of Hematology. Nearly 2.5 million Americans have sickle cell trait.

After Dickey collapsed, he was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis at a community hospital and transported to Geisinger Medical Center, a trauma center. His health rapidly declined and he developed kidney failure, according to the lawsuit. Muscles in his arms and calves also began to swell from compartmentalization, having to be cut open to relieve pressure. During surgery, Dickey went into cardiac arrest several times before his family asked doctors to stop efforts to save his life, the suit says.

His cause of death was “dilated cardiomyopathy complicated by rhabdomyolysis,” according to the autopsy report by Montour County. Sickle cell trait and an “elevated body mass index,” meaning his weight was greater than what is considered normal for his height, were listed as contributing factors.

When he was admitted to the hospital, Dickey was 291 pounds but he weighed over 350 pounds when he died, according to his parents. Dilated cardiomyopathy is when the heart becomes enlarged and its muscles weakened, leading to the heart not being able to pump enough blood to the body.

Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr. on the football field during his senior year at Carrollwood Day School.

Calvin Dickey/Calvin and Nicole Dickey

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Calvin Dickey/Calvin and Nicole Dickey

A separate private autopsy, conducted on behalf of the family, also concluded that sickle cell trait contributed to his death.

People with sickle cell trait are at a higher risk of developing exertional rhabdo, according to Dr. Crawford Strunk, a staff physician with the Cleveland Clinic who was not involved with the case and did not treat Dickey. That’s when muscle tissue breaks down because of excessive exercise, physical training or work.

“Unfortunately, when you have rhabdomyolysis to the extent that this young man did, it is often fatal,” says Strunk, who is also vice chief medical officer for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. “It is usually 48 hours after the collapse, as multiple organ systems fail despite the medical teams’ attempts at stopping the rhabdomyolysis and providing adequate treatment.”

Athletes with sickle cell trait or sickle cell disease can face numerous health issues, including blood clots, according to Dr. Jervis Yau, an orthopedic surgeon who has been a team physician for several sports teams in California and is also unconnected to the treatment and litigation.

“Sickle cell disease can affect various joints, large and small, as well as other parts of the musculoskeletal system,” Yau says.

The best treatment is prevention

Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr. with his mother, Nicole Dickey, and father, Calvin Dickey Sr., on Easter in 2024 in downtown Tampa, Fla.

Calvin and Nicole Dickey

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Calvin and Nicole Dickey

Death in sports from sickle trait and rhabdo is rare, but it has led to the deaths of other college athletes.

Since 2014, at least 10 college athletes have died from complications of sickle cell trait, including one related to rhabdo, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research. Seven of those deaths were because of exertional sickling, a life-threatening condition in which red blood cells become shaped like a sickle or “C” during intense exercise.

After the 2006 death of Dale Lloyd II, a Rice University football player who collapsed during a workout and died from complications of sickle cell trait, the NCAA required testing of all Division I athletes for the condition as part of a settlement with his family. The NCAA now requires all athletes be tested for sickle cell trait.

Athletic departments are also required to have emergency plans and protocols for those with sickle cell trait. The NCAA Sports Medicine Handbook also recommends that athletic departments “do not use exercise and conditioning activities as punishment.” The Dickeys say a protocol for athletes with the condition was not shared with them by Bucknell’s athletic trainers and coaches.

The best way to treat rhabdo in athletes with sickle cell trait is preventing it from occurring, Strunk says. That includes parents, players, coaches and athletic training staff being aware of sickle cell trait and its risks. He says there should also be a workout plan with players with sickle cell trait and ongoing discussions with them about their limitations in training and workouts.

Players should be eased into workouts gradually, especially when starting a new season, says A.J. Duffy III, president of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.

“It’s having the coaches — strength and conditioning coaches — working with the athletic training staff so that during the transition period, you’re at a gradual increase in activity so the body acclimates not only to heat, but to the stresses that are placed on it during those preseason practices,” Duffy says.

Calvin Dickey Sr. and Nicole Dickey say they hope sharing what happened to their son will prevent it from happening to more athletes, will lead to change in sports conditioning at Bucknell and other schools and raise awareness of the dangers of sickle cell trait in sports.

“This should never have happened. It was 100% preventable. And if we keep silent and we’re not upfront and honest about it, then it can happen again,” Nicole Dickey says.