Opposing Team’s Mom Gives Coach CPR During Game

December 29, 2010 /
NBCWashington.com

Quick-thinking by a high school basketball player’s mother may have saved the life of a visiting team’s coach.

George Washington, coach of the Woodbridge High girls basketball team in Prince William County, Va., collapsed in the fourth quarter of his team’s game on Tuesday.  Debbie Stone, whose daughter was playing for Colonial Forge against Washington’s team, jumped in to help administer CPR.

“I can’t say that I ever thought that I would do this,” she said. “But adrenaline takes over and you just do what you think is right.”

The two teams were playing in a tournament at Brooke Point High School.  As Colonial Forge pulled ahead in the fourth period, Washington called a time out to talk to his team.

Stone said she was sitting in the bleachers in front of the Woodbridge team, and watched the coach drop to the floor.  She said she immediately dashed outside where she could get cell phone reception to dial 911.  She then returned inside to help an assistant coach and a school official administer CPR.

Stone said she learned CPR so that she could get a babysitting job when she was age 13.

Although leading at the time of the incident, Colonial Forge agreed to forfeit the game.  The team’s coach told NBC that he told his players to go home and pray.

The Woodbridge coach is currently in stable condition.


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