KR graduate, Wabash sophomore Linthicum dies

Football player suffers heart failure during hip surgery.

Photo by Stephan Bates Josh Linthicum, Kenton Ridge graduate, Wabash college football player

Wabash College photo/Wabash College photo Wabash College sophomore offensive lineman Josh Linthicum, right, plays in a game last season.

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By David Jablonski, Staff Writer Updated 11:23 PM Monday, January 4, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — Josh Linthicum, a 2008 Kenton Ridge High School graduate and a sophomore football player at Wabash College, died Monday, Jan. 4, at Bethesda Hospital in Cincinnati.

His dad, Michael Linthicum of Springfield, said Josh, 19, was having surgery on a torn labrum in his left hip. It was performed by Cincinnati Reds team doctor and Wittenberg orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tim Kremchek at the Summit Surgical Center in Cincinnati.

Toward the end of the surgery, Michael Linthicum said, Josh’s blood pressure dropped, and his heart stopped. Michael said Josh had no history of heart problems.

“He was a great kid,” said Kenton Ridge athletic director Kris Spriggs. “It’s just an absolute shock.”

“He never met somebody he didn’t like,” Michael Linthicum said. “I don’t think there’s many people who met him who didn’t like him.”

Linthicum would have turned 20 on Jan. 28. Wabash sports information director Brent Harris described the 6-foot-3, 315-pound offensive lineman as a “big Teddy bear.”

“We had a lot of conversations around football and just around campus,” Harris said. “Like any of the other kids, you run into him, and it’s not just, ‘Hello,’ with Josh. It could be about anything, from football to sports, to something happening in the world.

“He was an outstanding young man and very friendly and just great to be around, very involved in life.”

Harris said Linthicum played in the first four games of the 2009 season for the Little Giants before tearing ligaments in his thumb. Linthicum was a history major who hoped to attend law school after graduation.

At Kenton Ridge, Linthicum played basketball, baseball and football and competed in track. He was a member of the 2007 baseball team that finished as state runner-up.

Linthicum is survived by his dad Mike, mom Debbie and brother Chad. Funeral arrangements are pending, Wabash announced.

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