Tragedy struck the Bentley University community Monday night when 19-year-old freshman basketball player Joe Glynn collapsed and died in Watertown, Mass., while participating in a men’s recreational summer league, police said.
Lt. Michael Lawn of the Watertown Police Department said that the 6-foot-5 forward was declared dead at Mount Auburn Hospital at roughly 7:30 p.m. ET, according to The Associated Press.
Glynn, from Abington, Mass., started 16 games and averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per game this past season for the Falcons.
A teammate told the Boston Herald that there was no physical contact made before he died. The cause of death is unknown and the investigation remains open.
ESPN Boston is reporting that Glynn was playing with some of his former teammates from the AAU team he used to play for, Middlesex Magic AAU. The director of that program, Mike Crotty Jr., was also there at the rec league game.
“I loved the kid, he was a great person,” Crotty said to ESPN Boston. “He was quiet until you got to know him, and then he was a funny kid with a great personality that everyone responded to. He was a great brother to all of his sisters, the kind of son you would want to have — didn’t do anything wrong, did what he was asked. If I had a daughter someday, my hope is that she would meet a guy like Joey Glynn.
“He was one of the best, just a wonderful kid. As a player, nobody had more heart, nobody had a better motor, he shut up and played the game the way it was meant to be played. The great part of coaching kids when you’re young enough … I’m a coach and a mentor in some ways, but then they become my friends, and Joey was a great friend.
“I wish [he] could have played for a lot longer. He had such a bright future, such bright a life ahead of him. I don’t know what to say.”
Glynn made a name for himself while he was attending Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton (Mass.) as one of the best student-athletes in the state. ESPN Boston named him to their All-State Team in 2012 and he finished his career at Spellman with 1,425 points.
“He was an outstanding athlete and an even better person,” Cardinal Spellman spokesman Nate Merritt told the Patriot Ledger. “He always represented Spellman better than we could have even asked. Putting this tragedy into words is virtually impossible.”
Spellman held a prayer service in his honor at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
Photo via Facebook/Bentley UniversityÂ
