The death of Miles-Kirkland Thomas is still a fresh wound among family members, friends, classmates, teammates, faculty and those who truly knew Miles. The news of his death quickly spread through the news and social media, especially on Twitter. Text messages, phones calls, and tweets quickly circulated as the shocking news hit many who were unaware of Miles’ collapse. By Monday afternoon on September first, almost everyone knew what had happened earlier that day at football practice.

Jordan Kermee, a two year varsity player who has known Miles since they both played for the Hurricanes (a Staten Island youth football league), said, “It was unreal, he was only 16, I was shocked.” Kermee was there with the rest of the varsity football players, witnessing Miles collapse at practice.

Ksean Foster, a senior varsity player, knew Miles since second grade. He said, “After finding out our close teammate had passed away, we all cried, we just had to be strong.”

Ms. Ago, a nursing teacher, who only had Miles as a student for one semester, was touched by Miles’ personality. Like many others, Ms. Ago found out about Miles’ death through a text message by one of the faculty members. “I was shocked and really saddened, he was such a good boy – like a big teddy bear,” said Ago.

It is obvious that many people loved Miles. About 200 people attended his funeral at the Shiloh AME Zion Church in West Brighton. Among those who attended were Mr. Ritzer, the athletic director, and Mr. Gambardella, the team’s head coach.

Miles’ autopsy was released on October 7th.  The findings attributed Kirkland’s death to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic disease that causes the heart to thicken. The hot and humid day exasperated this conditions, leading to his collapse.