A celebratory event for a Philadelphia Eagles fan turned into a catastrophic one. 18-year-old Tyler Sabapathy, like every enthusiastic Eagles fan, was present at 15th and Market Street, Center City, on Sunday to celebrate the Philadelphia Eagles’ 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders and entry into the Super Bowl LI against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Being an accomplished gymnast with over 120 medals, Tyler climbed up a pole to celebrate with more vigor, enthusiasm, and craze. Little did he know his celebration would cost him a heavy blunder.
Witnesses capture Tyler Sabapathy falling from the pole
There were two more people with Tyler on the pole. Witnesses from the ground who captured the viral video of Tyler Sabapathy falling from the pole say, ‘Tyler lost his grip and balance, fell backward from the pole, and hit his head on the concrete sidewalk.’
Witnesses said police quickly came to his aid and took him to a hospital. Students of Temple University said Tyler sustained critical injuries to the brain over the weekend, and he succumbed to death Tuesday afternoon.
Temple University President John Fry wrote a letter about Tyler Sabapathy’s unfortunate demise
The letter read:
“The loss of a promising 18-year-old man like Tyler is both tragic and traumatic. There are no words that can make sense of it, and the entire Temple community mourns his passing. Our hearts go out to Tyler’s family, friends, classmates and all who knew and loved him.
A native of Toronto, Canada, Tyler was already a thriving student within Temple University’s College of Public Health, where he was majoring in exercise and sport science. As an accomplished gymnast with more than 120 medals in provincial, regional and international competitions, Tyler was fascinated with injury prevention, and this ultimately led him to pursue the major that he did. He no doubt had a bright future ahead of him, and it is so tragic that we will not be able to see how he would have made his mark on the world.”
A promising future broken by a risky tradition
The risky tradition of climbing poles to celebrate a football team’s win cost a young man’s life. A young man who could have been a promising future for the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics championship.
The police have constantly warned Eagles fans not to climb up the poles, but nobody listens. Some personnel even used a deterrent to prevent fans from climbing up the traffic lights and poles. But to no avail! Even a gymnast’s life is not guaranteed if he climbs up the pole. Such a risky tradition is unsafe and illegal and should not be followed.
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