Healing Through Play

Al Bagnoli did everything he could to provide plenty of outlets for his team to grieve over the tragic death of Penn running back Kyle Ambrogi. His team met with grief counselors, talked to one another, and minimized practice time this week. But it seemed as if the best way to cope with Ambrogi's sudden suicide was simply to play football.

"I'm not sure if we can ever replace Kyle," Bagnoli said, "but I think the best thing we could have done was come up here and get a W in three hours, put it behind us, and give the game ball back to the mom and the brother."

The Quakers rolled past Columbia 44-16, but the win was more than the Quakers second conference victory. It was a chance for the team to vent physically the emotions that have been brewing for the past few days.

"This whole week has been a really emotional week," running back Sam Mathews said. "It was very theraputic in a way. It was a great way to let out a lot of emotion. There's a lot of frustration, a lot of sadness, and, for about three hours today, we were able to forget everything and work on getting this game for Kyle."

Kyle committed suicide Monday night, and for a day and a half, Bagnoli said, his team was in shambles. The coach had a team meeting Tuesday, brought in some outside counselors, and the team held practice Wednesday in an attempt to get players' minds off Ambrogi's death.

Bagnoli decided, along with Kyle's mother, Donna, that it would be best if his younger brother, Greg, did not travel to New York with the team. Kyle's wake was in Bryn Mawr Sunday, while the funeral service is being held today. "For [Greg] to take another hit again, I just did not want to put him in a situation where it was too much for him," Bagnoli said. "The plans are for him to be back on campus on Tuesday ... hopefully he'll be in practice then."

Ambrogi was not a star but a sound role player. His two-touchdown performance last week against Bucknell was the highlight of his career. When his brother, Greg, recovered a fumble in the second quarter of that game and returned it for a touchdown, they became the first brothers to score touchdowns for the same team in the same game since a set of twins at Dartmouth did it in 1967.

He lived with seven other undergraduates, several of whom played on the football team. Casey Edgar, a defensive back who lived with and was very close with Kyle, talked about how things were different.

"It's been a very emotional, very sad, very quiet week at my house," Edgar said.

He spoke about how Kyle woke him up every morning.

"My routine has been messed up," he said. "I went out there today and played my heart out for him."

There is no doubt the Quakers will play this entire season with heavy hearts. But as the season rolls on, the harsh realities of last week will soften, and the team can focus on remembering Ambrogi's great attributes, not speculating what drove him to end his life when he was so young.

Bagnoli said he was proud of how his team took its frustration and grief, translating that into a sound effort. But he knows his team has a way to go.

"[The team's response to this incident] speaks volumes about the kind of kids we have," Bagnoli said. "I've never been prouder of a team. This is about as much duress as you could possibly put on a team."