A Richmond High School senior and standout football player, Dre Street, was critically injured during a fan promotion at a Richmond Flying Mummies baseball game, according to the school. A second Richmond athlete, quarterback Thomas Stargell, was also hurt in the same incident. Both were hurt when a between-innings fan contest requiring two contestants to run at each other in inflatable bubble suits ended in a collision near second base.
The accident happened during Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday at Don McBride Stadium, the season finale of the Flying Mummies' inaugural Northwoods League season, according to WTHR. Richmond football players, including Street and another player, were at the ballpark because the game doubled as a fundraiser for the Red Devils football program, with the team taking a share of ticket sales for the promotion. Witness Darcy Irwin told the station the players collided while running full speed at each other, calling the moment hard to watch.
Game Called After Collision, Fans Left Stunned
Play was halted for good after the collision, and the Flying Mummies were awarded a 2-1 win over the Kenosha Kingfish, per Western Wayne News. Emergency personnel from the Richmond Fire Department and Reid Health EMS responded on-site, and both injured teenagers were transported off the field by cart. Fan Zach Carter said the stadium lost its energy after the incident, the station's report noted.
Richmond High School has since provided counselors at school to help students cope, and classmates have rallied around Street and Stargell in the aftermath. The Flying Mummies issued a statement of support for the injured students. Stargell, a member of the class of 2027, plays quarterback for the Red Devils, while Street is a senior and standout on the football team, according to the school.
Eerily Similar Injury Struck North Carolina Teen Weeks Earlier
The Richmond collision echoes an incident just two weeks earlier at a Burlington Sock Puppets baseball game in North Carolina, where a rising high school junior was seriously injured after colliding with a mascot while wearing an inflatable bubble suit, as reported by WFMY News 2. Emergency personnel had to transport that participant off the field motionless. WTHR reported the same North Carolina case citing 13News coverage.
The back-to-back incidents point to a broader safety concern with the bubble-suit contests that have become a staple of minor-league and collegiate summer baseball promotions. A biomechanical safety study published in Sports Engineering in January 2025 found that head-first impacts in inflatable bubble suits at moderate running speeds generate cervical spine force loads that exceed safe injury reference values, creating a high risk of severe neck trauma despite external suit padding. A separate prospective medical cohort study published in PMC in November 2020 found that 21.4% of participants in bubble sports experienced neurological symptoms such as headaches or dizziness after playing, with an overall high incidence of traumatic injuries.
Legal Stakes Loom Over Bubble-Suit Attractions
The liability exposure tied to these contests is not hypothetical. In 2019, a Missouri court awarded nearly $45 million to a participant who suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury resulting in quadriplegia during a bubble ball activity, according to ACP Entertainment. Several commercial event operators now categorize bubble balls as high-risk attractions as a result.
The Flying Mummies launched in May as a Northwoods League expansion franchise under an ownership group that includes Napoleon Dynamite actors Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, and Jon Gries, according to Wikipedia. The team plays at historic Don McBride Stadium, which opened in 1936 through the Works Progress Administration and has hosted municipal, high school, and minor-league teams affiliated with the Boston Braves and Detroit Tigers.
Whether the Northwoods League or the stadium will suspend inflatable-suit fan promotions going forward remains an open question, as do updated medical prognoses for Street and Stargell. For now, the Richmond community says it is hoping for a full recovery for both injured students.
