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Westover football player dies; autopsy planned

• A 15-year-old Westover student's body is set for an autopsy following his unexpected death Sunday, an official says.

Joshua Brown

ALBANY — A Westover High School freshman football lineman died unexpectedly Sunday night, family and officials said Monday.

Shaquille Johnson, 15, an offensive and defensive lineman who head coach Jeff Caldwell described as “promising,” died about 9 p.m. Sunday night after collapsing and complaining of side pains, his father Sheldon said Monday.

Shaquille Johnson had undergone knee surgery on Dec. 29 and had complained of side pains then, though doctors told the family it was just a gas buildup, Sheldon Johnson said. Shaquille collapsed again about 6:30 p.m. Sunday after complaining of pains and was pronounced dead about 9 p.m., his father said.

“Words can’t describe him,” Sheldon Johnson said. “He was very well liked by his peers, loved by his teachers and coaches and principle.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better son.”

Johnson played on the varsity and the 9th-grade football teams, Caldwell said. He described Johnson as having a lot of unrealized potential.

“It’s one of those things where you don’t understand, but you have to have faith that all things happen for a reason,” he said. “He was a young man who had a lot of potential. We had a lot of hope for him in the future, but unfortunately that was cut short.”

Sheldon Johnson said the process of grieving will be long and hard, but his faith in God’s plan helps to comfort him some.

“It’s nothing that time won’t heal, as in any death, but it’s especially hard from a parent’s perspective,” he said. “But, you know, we can’t question what God does. Obviously God had a plan for (taking) him.”

Funeral services for Shaquille are set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Mount Zion Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Dougherty County Coroner Emma Quimbley said she didn’t know what might have caused the boy’s death, but has sent his body to the State Crime Lab in Atlanta for an autopsy because of his young age.

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