Ex-Bucknell University coach charged in death of freshman football player

A former Bucknell University coach has been charged with aggravated hazing after a freshman football player collapsed during practice and died in 2024. 

Mark Kulbis is also facing misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the death of Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr., the Pennsylvania attorney general announced on Monday. 

Investigators said Kulbis, who was Bucknell University’s strength and conditioning coach at the time, subjected Dickey and other players to 100 “up-downs” and several full-body plank drills on the first day of freshman football practice despite training and direction from other coaches that the exercises weren’t safe. 

Dickey, who had Sickle Cell trait, was visibly struggling, but Kulbis didn’t get help until Dickey passed out, the attorney general’s office said. Dickey was taken to a hospital but died two days later on July 12, 2024. 

An autopsy determined his death was caused by Kulbis subjecting him to exercises in combination with his Sickle Cell trait, body weight and exertional rhabdomyolysis, authorities said. 

The attorney general’s office said Kulbis put Dickey through those workouts even though he knew about Dickey’s medical condition and had received training from the university about Sickle Cell trait, as well as hazing.  

The felony aggravated hazing charge filed against Kulbis was made law by Pennsylvania in response to the hazing death of Penn State University student Tim Piazza in 2017.

“This law exists because it recognizes what hazing is: criminal conduct that, in the best possible scenario, humiliates and dehumanizes an individual — and at its worst, takes lives and leaves families and friends forever devastated,” Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a press release.