A Temple University student died Tuesday after falling from a street pole during the Philadelphia Eagles NFC Championship celebration on Sunday night.
Tyler Sabapathy, 18, was on top of a pole when he slipped off, hit his head on the ground and suffered a serious brain injury, local ABC affiliate WPVI reported.
Sabapathy was taken to a local hospital on Sunday night, but he died from his injuries on Tuesday, according to a statement from Temple.
“The loss of a promising 18-year-old man like Tyler is both tragic and traumatic,” university president John Fry and vice president Jody Bailey said in a statement. “There are no words that can make sense of it, and the entire Temple community mourns his passing.”
Sabapathy, a Toronto native, was a freshman at the school and a member of the club gymnastics team. He was majoring in exercise and sports science at Temple’s College of Public Health.
“Tyler displayed exceptional self-discipline and work ethic, spending countless hours a week training and honing his craft,” Fry and Bailey said. “He was loved by his teammates, friends and coaches here in Philadelphia.”
Eagles fans are well-known for climbing street poles after the team’s biggest victories. Ahead of previous big games, city workers have greased the poles to make them more difficult to climb. City leaders would not say whether the poles were greased ahead of Sunday’s game, which the Eagles won 55-23 over the Washington Commanders.