Heart Association Tackles Leading Cause of Athlete Cardiac Death at HBCU Game

The American Heart Association took its critical heart health message directly to sports fans at Lincoln Financial Field during the recent Battle of the Legends college football game between DeSean Jackson's Delaware State Hornets and Michael Vick's Norfolk State Spartans. The Association established an interactive "Heart Health Zone" focused on raising awareness about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), which the organization identifies as the leading cause of sudden cardiac death among young athletes. This condition, characterized by thickening and stiffening of the heart walls that limits proper blood pumping, affects an estimated 1 in 500 young people in the United States yet often remains undiagnosed. The event provided crucial education about this silent threat while empowering attendees with life-saving skills through Hands-Only CPR training sessions.

Throughout the HBCU football event, fans received hands-on CPR instruction covering proper compression rates and depth, along with business cards containing QR codes that linked to additional resources about HCM, Hands-Only CPR techniques, and guidance for starting Heart Clubs at schools. Jennifer Litchman-Green, executive director of the American Heart Association's Greater Philadelphia chapter, emphasized that "heart health belongs everywhere - in our homes, our schools and even at the 50-yard line," highlighting the importance of reaching communities where they gather. The Association's presence at this high-profile game reflects its broader mission to ensure equitable health access, particularly for historically underrepresented populations, while working toward its ambitious goal of doubling cardiac arrest survival rates by 2030 through its Nation of Lifesavers movement.

The educational initiative, supported in part by a grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, represents the Association's ongoing commitment to expanding health literacy and improving cardiovascular outcomes across diverse communities. Fans were directed to Heart.org/HCMStudentAthlete and Heart.org/Nation for continued learning and resource sharing within their networks. This activation builds upon the organization's established work with historically black colleges and universities, student-athletes, and community leaders to transform public understanding of heart disease prevention and emergency response capabilities, ultimately creating stronger, more informed communities equipped to protect and save lives when cardiac emergencies occur.