The future looked bright for Raymond M. Dunn, the 20-year-old basketball player who collapsed and died during a game Saturday.
The Vance-Granville Community College sophomore forward, a criminal justice major, had improved his GPA and was ready to continue his college basketball career at a four-year school. He was one of the top players in the nation in the junior college ranks.
Dunn collapsed on the court as a teammate was setting up for a free throw attempt midway through Saturday's game against Guilford Technical Community College, according to Glenn Forsythe, the father of Niles Forsythe, a sophomore teammate and close friend of Dunn.
Glenn Forsythe, a retired member of the U.S. Coast Guard, several nurses and a team trainer descended on the court, and Forsythe performed CPR on Dunn. Forsythe said he heard groans from Dunn, but no one was able to locate a pulse.
When an ambulance arrived, Dunn was hooked up to a defibrillator, Forsythe said.
"We were waiting for the ambulance," Forsythe said. "It seemed like it was forever."
What caused Dunn's death was unclear Monday. Kevin Gerity of the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said results from an autopsy conducted Sunday would not be available for 30 to 60 days.
Dunn's fiancée, Schania Gales, said he didn't have any health issues that were known.
Dunn's mother, Brenda Harris, would not talk Monday but through Forsythe said the family didn't have the money or insurance to pay for burial costs.
Gales said Dunn would have likely continued his college playing career at Virginia State or Johnson C. Smith.
"He was sweet, loving, caring," she said. "He always had a smile on his face."
Dunn attended the community college in Henderson to improve his GPA, according to Johnny Watkins, Dunn's coach at Norlina Christian School.
"Raymond was a good kid, the best player that ever played for me," Watkins said, noting that Dunn averaged more than 31 points and 21 rebounds per game at Norlina Christian during the team's 22-1 season in 2008.
According to a news release from Vance-Granville, Dunn had "a perfect 4.0 GPA for both the fall and summer semesters" and had been named to the school's dean's list for the fall semester.
Niles Forsythe first played basketball with Dunn at Norlina Christian. Both transferred to the school their senior year of high school. Dunn had transferred from Northern Vance High.
"He was one of those people that, if you were down, he would try to make you laugh," Forsythe said. "He would bring you up. He had one of those spirits. If you hung around him, you had no choice but to laugh."
The school, which forfeited Saturday's game and another scheduled Sunday, isn't sure what will happen with the remainder of the season, with one regular-season game left.
"That's all being discussed right now," Randy Parker, president of the school, said Monday.
Parker said decisions on how to proceed will be made in the next few days.
