Dorsey's Family Seeks Answers

[KB]

By SCOTT CARTER The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jan 24, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Her son is gone, but as of Tuesday afternoon, his spirit is freshly inked on Tammie Dorsey's right leg forever. Still trying to understand how her son died a week ago today after collapsing during a routine offseason workout, Dorsey felt the need to honor him in her own special way.

So, before emerging from a week of grieving for their son, University of South Florida freshman running back Keeley Dorsey, Claude Terrell and Tammie Dorsey stopped by a Tallahassee tattoo parlor Tuesday on their way to a news conference at Lincoln High School, where Keeley played prep football and worked extra hard in the classroom to get accepted at USF.

As a permanent reminder of Keeley's memory, Tammie Dorsey got the same tattoo her son had plastered on his back - in this case, the eerily prophetic phrase "enjoy life today, yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come" inscribed over a cross - on her upper leg.

"Keeley will always be with me," said Dorsey, who struggled to remain composed at times during a 15-minute meeting with reporters. "He will always be in my heart. The tattoo he carries on his back, I now carry on my body to represent and remind me that he will always be with me."

In the week since Keeley's death, his devastated parents have struggled to cope, especially when trying to understand how a perfectly healthy 19-year-old college football player can collapse and die while lifting weights.

"I talked to him an hour before it happened," said Terrell, the stepfather who helped raise Keeley. "He called and told me he was getting ready to go get some lunch and getting ready to go work out. I told him I loved him, and he told me he loved me. That's what we do every day.

"Everything was normal."

Soon, chaos erupted when Terrell received a call from USF assistant coach Wally Burnham, who got to know the family well while recruiting Keeley. Burnham informed the family Keeley had passed out and was on the way to the hospital. When attempts to revive him failed, USF coach Jim Leavitt called with the news no parent ever expects to hear.

"They tried to save him, and it just wasn't meant to be," Terrell said. "It was time for him to go home."

Autopsy results are not expected to be released for another four to six weeks, meaning for now, Dorsey's parents are left without answers as to why their son died while lifting weights, one of his favorite hobbies besides football.

"He was lifting weights and he just passed out," Terrell said. "They said they just heard him fall. Other than that, we don't know exactly yet because we haven't been down there to actually ask the probing questions I want to ask."

Terrell said Keeley had no prior medical condition that the family knows about that could have played a role in his death. He said Keeley complained of headaches in November, but after being checked out by USF team doctors - including an MRI of his head - he was cleared to resume workouts and that the headaches had disappeared by the time Keeley returned home for the holiday break.

"He was homesick, so once he got home, he never complained again," Terrell said. "We're just as shocked as everyone else."

Still, the family wants answers and hopefully will get some when the autopsy results are completed. The family also plans to come to Tampa sometime after Saturday's funeral in Tallahassee to learn more about the circumstances surrounding Keeley's death.

Tammie Dorsey offered a glimpse into Keeley's personality and the life he lived.

She wants the world to know that the little boy who started tucking a football under his arm by the time he could walk was a special person in so many ways to so many people.

"He was my baby," she said. "He was special from the day he was born. I want his memory to go on, but I don't want it to be cloudy. When people remember Keeley and think of Keeley, I want them to think of what he stood for and what he strived for. He strived to be the best that he could be, and that's what he was."

A multitalented quarterback, running back and receiver at Lincoln, Keeley caught USF's attention on the football field enough to be offered a scholarship. However, without the grades to qualify, he sat out the 2005 season to work on his academics and earned admission into USF in February 2006.

"When he got accepted into college to USF, that was the happiest day of Keeley's life," Dorsey said.

He only played sparingly as a freshman, but enjoyed a memorable moment when he scored on a 52-yard touchdown run in his first college game.

David Wilson, one of his former coaches at Lincoln, said as good as Keeley was as a football player, he should be remembered more as a role model.

"He was always such a pleasant and wonderful kid," Wilson said. "I remember on Christmas Day one year I got a text message from him. I opened it up and it said, 'Merry Christmas coach, I love you.' Those who knew him are blessed. Those who didn't missed out on something special."

[Jake_Ryan]

I wish I had known him.  He sounds like a special person.

[LakeBull]

[smazza]

WANT ANSWERS?????

CALL A LAWYER

[HaulingBull Sucks]

WANT ANSWERS?????

CALL A LAWYER

If anyone will have the answer(s), it will be the Medical Examiner and until his examination is complete and his report filed they will just have to be patient.

[Bull Martin]

It's people like you samzza wanting to sue everyone for everything that need to burn in hell.

[Brad]

WANT ANSWERS?????

CALL A LAWYER

Doesn't seem like those are the kind of answers they are looking for.

[Mama_Bull]

Although we won't know the answers to why Keeley died until the Medical Examiner releases his report, I think it will be found that he had a congenital heart defect (undetectable unless being specifically looked for) or he had a blood clot.  

I don't think smazza's solution to find out why this young man died is the way to go.

[smazza]

It's people like you samzza wanting to sue everyone for everything that need to burn in hell.

no one said anything about suing

it is people like you that condem other to hell who will go to hell(if there is such a place)

did you get such a sunny disposition from sunday school?

wow -when i was 21 i was getting having fun and getting tail.I was certainly not thinking about HELL.what is wrong with our young kids today?

[smazza]

WANT ANSWERS?????

CALL A LAWYER

If anyone will have the answer(s), it will be the Medical Examiner and until his examination is complete and his report filed they will just have to be patient.

stop watching csi-miami

have you ever dealt with a medical examinar?

no doubt family will contact a lawyer