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A hurting father waits for answers

Bobby Stephens Jr. died the first day he played organized football. Now his father is left looking for answers.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published July 19, 2006

TAMPA — On the last weekend Bobby Stephens would ever spend with his son, he taught the boy football plays.

Monday was Bobby Stephens Jr.’s first day of football practice with the Progress Village Panthers varsity team, his first day of playing any organized sport.

Bobby, 12, died after practice that day, not long after he told the coach he was tired and wasn’t feeling well.Now, his father wants answers.

“If anybody’s accountable, that needs to be taken care of and addressed,” Stephens, 36, said in a phone interview Wednesday.

An autopsy was completed Tuesday, but the results won’t be available for more than a month while additional tests are performed, medical examiner’s spokesman Dick Bailey said.

“You’re just tired, and you hurt all over,” Stephens said. “It’s something you just can’t understand. It’s like this really shouldn’t be happening.”

Representatives from the team could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but in an interview earlier in the week, the athletic director said he wasn’t sure what happened.

Bobby died on the way to Brandon Regional Medical Center. The ambulance arrived at the Progress Village Park practice field about 8:30 p.m., according to Hillsborough Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley.

Panthers coaches held a meeting Tuesday to tell parents what had happened.

Bobby would have been in seventh grade this fall at Giunta Middle School, his father said.

He loved PlayStation and watching adventure movies like X-Men and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Bobby lived with his mother and spent weekends with his father. This weekend was a particularly good time, his father said. The two worked out together on Friday and talked about football. The next day, they went fishing. On Sunday, they went to church, then to a family birthday party.

Stephens said he has been in the Tampa Bay Storm’s camp, playing semipro ball. He was a defensive back. He had high hopes for his son.

“I told him, “You know, you can be better than me,’” he recalled.

Bobby didn’t have any health problems, his father said.

“He was never a sickly kid or something to that effect,” he said.

Stephens is still coming to terms with his son’s death. On Wednesday, he made funeral arrangements.

“I went to the cemetery to find a spot for my son,” he said. “It’s like a dream, something, it’s like it’s not really happening.”

The funeral for Bobby will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Temple Terrace, he said.

The weekend is still fresh in his mind, he said. He remembers hugging his son after the birthday party. They both said, “I love you,” he recalled.

“That’s the last thing he said is that he loved me,” he said.

He was thankful for that.

Researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Abbie VanSickle can be reached vansickle@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3373.

[Last modified July 19, 2006, 23:06:47]