Sam Bruce, a former wide receiver for the University of Miami, died of a heart attack at the age of 24.
According to the Broward County Medical Examiner’s report acquired by TMZ Sports, Bruce’s official cause of death was coronary artery disease.
On April 28, Bruce perished in an automobile accident in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. According to a Fort Lauderdale Police Department spokesperson, Bruce was having a seizure at the time of the incident.
“At this time, the circumstances surrounding this incident are not suspicious, and foul play is not suspected,” a spokeswoman stated.
Bruce’s mother, Tracye Wilkerson, told Wells Dusenbury of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that her son had been hospitalized five months before his death and that she suspected the seizure was related.
Sam, the nephew of former Pro Bowler Isaac Bruce, was a notable high school athlete at St. Thomas Aquinas. He enrolled at the University of Miami as a 4-star prospect and the No. 11 wide receiver in the 2016 class, according to 247Sports.
Chad Johnson, a three-time Pro Bowler, tweeted upon learning of Bruce’s death:
Bruce never played a game for the Hurricanes and was expelled from the team in October of his freshman year.
In an April 2021 interview with Footballville (via David Furones of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel), Bruce stated that his firing was the consequence of “a series of things” that accumulated over time.
“Either late to meetings—my thing wasn’t really late to meetings—my thing was falling asleep in meetings,” he went on to say. That was my thing. I get there. “I’m living the rockstar lifestyle.”
After his departure from Miami, Bruce spent time at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Southeastern University. He had tryouts with the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos and the Frisco Fighters of the Indoor Football League.
