Mercer student dies after being hit with a soccer ball, Bibb County coroner confirms
A Mercer University student died after collapsing while playing soccer on campus Monday night, the Bibb County Coroner’s Office confirmed.
Mason Sells, 20, was “hit in the chest with a soccer ball,” during a game at the Macon campus, Coroner Leon Jones told The Telegraph.
An ambulance took the intramural soccer player to the Atrium Health Navicent emergency room, and pronounced dead around 9:30 p.m., Jones said.
Sells was a junior accounting major and member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, according to an email statement by university President Bill Underwood, which was shared with the campus community.
“Our hearts go out to the Sells family on their tragic loss, and I ask the Mercer community to keep them in their thoughts and prayers,” Underwood said. “Mason was an outstanding student and a highly involved Mercerian. Words cannot express the extent of our sadness over his passing.”
Eric O’Dell, faculty adviser of Alpha Tau Omega and a fine arts professor, said Sells’ death was a “tragic shock” to his fraternity brothers.
“Mason was loved by the chapter … We are grateful for this community that we now lean on,” O’Dell said. “He was a wonderful young man, vital to the chapter and campus.”
O’Dell, an alum of Mercer and Alpha Tau Omega, added the fraternity has “gratitude for the time he was among us.”
Any students who need counseling can contact Mercer’s Counseling and Psychological Services between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 478-301-2862.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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