Knoxville police are investigating boxing match death of UT student

A 20-year-old University of Tennessee student who collapsed Friday night during a charity boxing tournament was pronounced dead on arrival at UT Medical Center.

The student, Joseph Tanner Wray of Lawrenceburg, was participating in a match in the Ace Miller Memorial Boxing Tournament at the Knoxville Expo Center. He collapsed about 9:26 p.m. as he was about to sit on his stool inside the ring between the second and third rounds of the match, the Knoxville Police Department said in a news release.

Medical assistance was provided to Wray by on-scene medical personnel, police said. He was transported to UT Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

His body was transported to the forensics center, where an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death. Police said the investigation is continuing.

Chi Phi members were gathered outside the fraternity’s residence on Volunteer Boulevard on Saturday morning to mourn Wray’s death with other members of the campus’ Greek community. The fraternity was not prepared to release an official statement on Wray’s death, but member Brenden Endsley, a junior at the university, said the members were fundamentally shaken and they were grateful for the support shown by the community.

Wray, who was initiated into Chi Phi in the spring of 2017, was elected to serve as the fraternity’s vice president in November. Chi Phi is under social probation until the end of May, following an off-campus incident that occurred in August, according to the university’s Office of Sorority & Fraternity Life’s website.

“Our thoughts are with Tanner’s family and friends, the Phi Delta Chapter and the Vols community,” the fraternity’s national organization said in a statement on its website.

The Ace Miller Memorial Boxing Tournament is an annual tournament where University of Tennessee fraternities box against each other. The threenight 38th annual tournament began Thursday at the Knoxville Expo Center on Clinton Highway. The remainder of this year’s event was canceled after Wray collapsed Friday.

The tournament is not organized through the university.

University of Tennessee Chancellor Beverly Davenport tweeted a statement of sympathy Saturday morning.

ANDREW CAPPS Members of the Chi Phi fraternity stand outside the fraternity house on the campus of the University of Tennessee following the death of junior Chi Phi member Tanner Wray during the annual Ace Miller Memorial Boxing Tournament Friday night.