LSU's Colby Delahoussaye doesn't know how he escaped burning car
Colby Delahoussaye doesn’t know how he escaped the burning car.
It skidded off a rain-soaked road, hit a tree and fell 40 feet down an embankment. The impact knocked the LSU kicker unconscious.
Also in the car were Nebraska punter Sam Foltz and former Michigan State punter Mike Sadler. Police believe the two were killed instantly in the crash, but Delahoussaye, who was sitting in the backseat, emerged with second-degree burns on his left leg, stitches in his head and bruised ribs.
Dwayne Delahoussaye, Colby’s father, told The Advocate that his son awoke when the car caught fire.
“All he remembers is that the fire was burning his leg and that woke him up,” Dwayne said. “He was knocked unconscious. The burning sensation revived him. That’s all he remembers. He doesn’t even know how he got out. He doesn’t know where he crawled out.”
The three were in Wisconsin at a camp for kicking specialists over the weekend and were headed to the home of former Badgers punter Drew Meyer northwest of Milwaukee. Meyer, who drove separately with Nebraska kicker Drew Brown, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Sadler, who was driving with Foltz and Delahoussaye as passengers, left first used GPS to navigate to Meyer’s home. It took the three on a different route than Meyer.
Meyer and Brown arrived at the Meyer home first and called the others to see where they were. The calls went unanswered, so they set out to see if they could find them.
“We thought maybe we had beaten them home,” Meyer said, “that maybe the GPS took them on a different route that was a little longer.
“But after 20 minutes or so Drew and I decided to go back out and see if we could find them. We were hoping that they were OK. We thought we could find them by chance.”
Instead, they came upon the accident site.
“We essentially knew right away,” Meyer said. “My heart sank. I knew that turn, living in that area. Just extremely tragic. Mike and Sam are two of the best guys I’ve ever met. Incredible young men.”
Police said the two-door Mercedes driven by Sadler lost control on wet pavement and that speed may have been a contributing factor in the accident. According to Dwayne Delahoussaye, the car “slid off the roadway between a light post and a tree” before it fell off the embankment.
“If they would have hit the light post or the tree, I think they would have been OK,” Dwayne said.
Colby doesn’t remember how he exited the vehicle – possibly through the back window, Dwayne said – but when he did he was able to call 911.
“He couldn’t believe (his phone) worked,” Dwayne said.
Dwayne flew to Wisconsin Sunday and he and Colby had a scheduled flight back to Louisiana out of Milwaukee at 1 p.m. Monday, he told The Advocate. Colby will spend some time with his mother in the family home near Lafayette before he returns to Baton Rouge Monday night.
Because of the burn wounds to Colby’s left thigh, his status for the beginning of LSU’s preseason camp is unclear. Camp begins Aug. 4.
From The Advocate:
It’s unclear if Delahoussaye, presumably the Tigers’ starting placekicker, will begin preseason camp with LSU on Aug. 4, his father said. LSU is calling in a “burn specialist” to treat the wounds, he said. Second-degree burns take 10-21 days to heal, according to medical websites.
“He’s doing well considering,” Dwayne said of his son. “He’s hurting a good bit, but Colby … he just keeps on going.”
Delahoussaye is expected to be the Tigers’ No. 1 kicker after Trent Domingue transferred to Texas. Domingue supplanted Delahoussaye as the starter in 2015.
In the two seasons before that Delahoussaye, a senior, hit 24-of-29 attempts – including a 49-yarder in 2013 and a 50-yarder in 2014.
For more LSU news, visit TigerBait.com.
– – – – – – –
Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
