Polish football player, 18, dies in tragic car crash in Missouri
A freshman college football player from Poland died late Tuesday night after a car crash in Missouri.
Antoni Wrobel, a quarterback who played at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, was identified as the only victim in the crash.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol (via St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK), Wrobel was driving southbound in the northbound lane of US Route 61 on Tuesday evening around 11:25 p.m.
While driving the wrong way, he was hit by a tractor-trailer. The truck drove through the median and stopped in the opposite lane when Wrobel’s car came to a stop in the median.
Missouri State Highway Patrol pronounced Wrobel dead at the scene and he was later identified by the Lewis County coroner.
Both Wrobel’s community in Culver-Stockton and his community in Poland expressed their grief in the wake of the tragedy.
Polish quarterback Antoni Wrobel died in a car accident in Missouri on Tuesday
“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of freshman QB Tony Wrobel,” the Culver-Stockton football team posted on their account on X, formerly Twitter.
“He was a unique and outgoing spirit who had a passionate love for his teammates, football and life itself. Please keep his family, teammates and our community in your thoughts and prayers at this time.”
According to Polish broadcaster Radio ZET, the Warsaw Eagles club also expressed its condolences, saying: “This is not how your American adventure should have ended.
“It was too short… Thank you for every game in Eagles colors, for your smile, your sense of humor, for great touchdown passes, for every game you won. Thank you for being our friend and you always will be,” Wrobel’s former team wrote on Facebook.
‘We’ll meet again to throw the ball together. You left suddenly, too soon… We express our deepest condolences [Wrobel’s] entire family, especially his mother Ewa,” the statement ended.
Culver-Stockton competes at the NAIA level in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.