Beloved football coach dies of suspected COVID complications
As a high school football coach and security guard, Davy Oswalt was relatively fit, had no known underlying health concerns and healthy lungs, his family and friends said.
While Davy wasn’t officially tested for COVID-19, and two hospitals got different results for an antibody test, his family firmly believes Davy — an athletic, relatively healthy 51-yearold man — died of COVID-19 complications because “he wasn’t a sickly person; then he got super sick when COVID-19 hit,” said his wife, Sandra Oswalt.
“We never would’ve thought, ever, that we would lose him at 51 to this,” Sandra Oswalt said. “Everyone has to be on alert.”
Davy attended Calumet High School, and before graduating in 1988, he was a football lineman and heavyweight wrestler. Davy was “a big part” of the high school’s sectional wrestling teams in 1986, 1987 and 1988 and a member of
the 1988 regional championship team, according to his obituary.
He went on to be an assistant football coach in several Calumet Region programs over the years, including Calumet High School, Hammond Morton, Hammond Gavit, Highland and Lake Station, according to his obituary. He also worked as a security supervisor at Horseshoe, Ameristar and Rivers casinos.
“He really sacrificed for those kids,” Sandra Oswalt said. “He would sleep a couple hours and go coach the kids and work nights. He really gave 110% for those boys.”
Davy first got sick in February 2020, his wife said, and initially it started out as a regular cold. But, before lockdowns went into effect, Sandra Oswalt said she suspected Davy had COVID19 because he took sick days from work when he had a cold, which he would never do.
“He was a workaholic. He would never miss work,” Sandra Oswalt said.
His family kept telling him to go to the doctor, but he was too stubborn to listen, his 18-year-old daughter, Serena Oswalt, said, adding that he took precautions against the virus and stayed home whenever possible.
In May 2020, he went to Community Hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and sent home on oxygen, Serena Oswalt said. His condition kept getting progressively worse, and by
October he was diagnosed with lung disease, she said.
Two months ago, in March, he went back to the hospital because his “lungs were shot,” and he was put on a list for a lung transplant, Serena Oswalt said. He was transported to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis to await a lung transplant, she said.
But, at 4 a.m. on April 21, Davy was put on a ventilator, and later that morning Serena Oswalt got a call from hospital staff telling her to come to the hospital. Davy died at 11 p.m. that evening, she said.
From the time he was admitted to the hospital in March, Davy spent the rest of his days in a hospital, Sandra Oswalt said, and his condition would shift.
“He would seem good for a day or two and then it would seem to get worse. Some days, he couldn’t even talk to me on the phone,” his wife said.
Johnny Dye, 52, said he and Davy were best friends growing up, and he couldn’t believe Davy died so quickly of seemingly COVID-19 complications.
In high school, Dye recalled how Davy would sit in desks behind him in class, push down on Dye’s desk until it was a few inches off the ground and let go. He would do it so much it got them kicked out of class, Dye said.
“Davy was a great guy. He was like a brother to me,” Dye said.
Jacqueline Dye, Dye’s niece, said Davy was a family friend who “was all around a great person” and always helpful, like the time he took her grandfather to the doctor’s office when no one else could.
“He would give you the shirt off his back if he could,” Jacqueline Dye said.
Jim Wadkins, a Calumet High School teacher and Davy’s wrestling coach, said as a student Davy was “shy, unassuming.” As an athlete, Davy worked to become a strong football player and wrestler.
“We went at it everyday and his successes were very limited early on. But he battled and kept improving. Before you knew it, he was a very competitive wrestler on some very good teams,” Wadkins said.
Serena Oswalt said she will miss going on long drives and bike rides with her dad. As a coach, Davy loved working with the athletes and always scheduled his work around practices and games, she said.
What breaks her heart, Sandra Oswalt said, is that her daughter is left without a father.
“It kills me that his daughter is going to go through her milestones without her dad,” Sandra Oswalt said.
As an emergency medical technician, Serena Oswalt said she has seen the impacts of COVID-19. But, after her father died, she said it further proved that the virus affects everyone differently.
“Just because you’re young, doesn’t mean you’re immune,” Serena Oswalt said. “You can spread it easily, even without symptoms. It’s not just about yourself.”