Man revived after collapsing at Farmingdale hoops game

A 78-year-old North Babylon man who collapsed at a high school boys basketball game Wednesday night was recovering Thursday thanks to the fast response of emergency personnel at Farmingdale State College, officials said.

There were about 30 seconds remaining in the Suffolk Class AA boys basketball championship game when a commotion in the stands alerted police.

Officers and athletic trainers raced to an upper bank of bleachers and found Harry Haferkamp unconscious, officials told Newsday.

"It just seems like with the heat and the excitement that somebody passed out at the end of the game," said Suffolk County Athletic Association Section XI athletic trainer Peter White, who was among those who responded.

"When I got there, they say he didn't have a pulse," White told Newsday on Wednesday night.

University police officer Andrew Kalos administered CPR, assisted by White and Longwood trainer Michelle Cordova.

After the CPR was applied, "He did come back - had a pulse, had a heart rate," White said.

"He was doing OK. A little in and out, but he was OK."

Video from the arena shows firefighters, police and other medical personnel carrying Haferkamp from the stands.

A defibrillator that was on hand was not needed, Farmingdale State police Chief Marvin Fischer said.

Volunteers from the East Farmingdale Fire Department took Haferkamp to New Island Hospital in Bethpage, where he was treated and released, according to hospital chief executive Dr. Aaron Glatt. Haferkamp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Unlike some college campus security forces, officers on state university campuses are all academy-trained - going through the Nassau, Suffolk and State Police academies, where they learn CPR and emergency aid techniques, said university spokesman Patrick Calabria.

Fischer stressed the importance of that training.

"All of our police officers are EMTs, qualified first responders," he said.

"Fortunately, the response was instantaneous. The results were good. Fortunately, the results were very good."

As Farmingdale athletic director Michael Harrington said: "It was an unfortunate incident, but I think the situation was handled well . . . We're very lucky everything went OK. Thank God he's OK."

Section XI director Ed Cinelli said: "It was a large crowd. We had a number of trainers there. You think: 'God forbid, something happens.' God forbid, something did. You've got to have things in place in those situations. Everything was. Everything worked."

Half Hollow Hills West beat Longwood, 77-69.