Wrongful death suit moved to Oxford

A Hinds County judge has ruled the wrongful death lawsuit against the University of Mississippi in the death of football player Bennie Abram will be heard in Oxford at the Lafayette County Courthouse. (October 4, 2011, Page 2)

Abram’s autopsy released

A coroner says complications of sickle cell trait caused the death of Bennie F. Abram, a Ole Miss football player who collapsed during a Feb. 19 workout.

Officials released the autopsy results Monday for Abram, a 20-year-old junior from Southaven.

Lafayette County Coroner Rocky Kennedy said the official cause of death was the sickle cell trait associated with exertion.

Kennedy said a contributing factor was that Abram had an enlarged heart.

Kennedy said a person with sickle cell trait inherits one gene for sickle hemoglobin and one for normal hemoglobin. The condition can be asymptomatic. However, Kennedy said Abram knew he had sickle cell trait. (May 18, 2010, Page 10)

UM football player dies

Ole Miss football player Bennie F. Abram III, 20, died Friday afternoon following a 5:30 a.m. workout session at the Indoor Practice Facility on the Oxford campus. Abram, a 2007 graduate of DeSoto Central and a walk-on transfer from Itawamba Community College, collapsed during the first workout of the spring. Head Coach Houston Nutt called the junior safety “part of our family.” (February 22, 2010, Page 1)