Andrew Demboski, a 21-year-old junior at Mississippi State University, died about 1:30 a.m. Saturday after falling off the Jumbotron scoreboard at the college's football stadium, reported the
Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
The giant scoreboard reportedly was a magnet for college dares and off-limits selfies.
Demboski, an environmental economics and management major, fell 18 feet off the Jumbotron's metal awning at the top of the huge scoreboard, Oktibbeha County coroner Michael Hunt told the Clarion-Ledger.
Emergency crews were called by two other students who were with Demboski at the time.
"What he was walking on was not designed to be walked on," Hunt told the Clarion-Ledger. "We're lucky all three of them didn't get hurt."
Demboski, from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, hit his head during the fall and then suffered cardiac arrest, Hunt said. Emergency crews worked an hour attempting to regain a pulse.
"Andrew was a very talented student," said Sid Salter, Mississippi State University's chief communications officer.
The
Gulfport Sun Herald said the $6.1 million Jumbotron scoreboard was installed at the stadium in 2008.
"I was shocked when I heard that someone from Ocean Springs fell off the Jumbotron and I couldn't believe that it was Andrew," Demboski's friend Hunter Sheffield told the Sun Herald. "He did some crazy stuff when we were young, but we all did. I just can't believe this happened to him."
WTVA-TV said the university struggled with keeping students from gaining access to the scoreboard since it was installed. A source said students would enter it on dares or to get a view of the entire Mississippi State campus.
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