Twelve people were hospitalized after thunderstorm-spawned winds demolished the Dallas Cowboys' indoor practice facility during a rookie minicamp Saturday afternoon.A week after the 2009 NFL draft, the Cowboys began rookie camp. They wanted to get the young players comfortable with the new game-plan and wanted them to become familiar with the coaches. While the team was practicing in its facility in downtown Irving, Texas, high-winds reaching nearly 70 mph. caused the facility to collapse. Since Saturday night have been going through the debris making sure no more people are trapped inside the rubbish.
No players were seriously injured in the collapse, which happened about 3:30 p.m., but three other Cowboys personnel were hurt: assistant athletic trainer Greg Gaither, who suffered a broken leg; college scouting coordinator Chris Hall, whose arm was injured; and scouting assistant Rich Behm, who was in critical condition with unspecified injuries. All remained hospitalized Saturday night.
Coming into this season the Cowboys brought in a new special teams coach, Joe DeCamillis, in hopes to improve their team in that area. DeCamillis suffered a broken leg, while trying to escape the collapse. A video shows that some players were trying to keep the facility up as it was being battered by the high winds.
Hopefully this isn’t any indication of how next season will go, after a disappointing 2008 campaign. Owner/General Manager Jerry Jones had just invested over $1 billion into the New Texas Stadium. Jones said his team will address this situation and move forward. The Cowboys hope to continue practice beginning next week.
