Owen Thomas, star defensive end, discovered in his apartment Monday. No foul play suspected, police say.
Owen Thomas, a Parkland High School graduate and University of Pennsylvania junior and football player, was found dead Monday afternoon at his off-campus apartment in Philadelphia, the university said Monday.
''No foul play is suspected,'' university spokeswoman Lori Doyle said Monday night. She said the cause of death had not yet been determined.
Thomas, 21, was found dead about 2 p.m., Doyle said.
His parents, the Revs. Katherine Brearley and Thomas Thomas of South Whitehall Township, drove to Philadelphia as soon as they were notified, Doyle said.
Thomas, a student at Penn's Wharton School, recently had been chosen a captain of the Quakers team, on which he was a defensive end. He also played defensive end for Parkland.
''It's a devastating loss to the Penn community, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends,'' Doyle said.
The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Thomas was a second-team All- Ivy League player in 2009, recording 29 tackles and finishing second in the league with six sacks. He started all 10 games on Penn's defensive line.
In 2008, he also started all 10 Penn games and recorded 10 tackles, including two solo tackles at Lafayette College in Easton.
The Quakers football team met Monday afternoon with the university's counselors, the team chaplain, the university chaplain and the Penn athletics staff.
At Parkland, Thomas was a three-letter winner and a two-year captain for the Trojans, the Penn Athletics website says. He was a National Honor Society member, a nominee for Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame scholar-athlete award and nominee for the High School Heisman Memorial Trophy.
He was named an all-area and all-league player as a junior and senior. He earned all-league as a tight end and linebacker. He helped lead the Trojans to two conference titles.
Born in Allentown, Thomas was from a family in which football had a prominent role. His older brother, Matt, who graduated from Penn in 2002, also played for the Quakers. Another brother, Morgan, plays for East Stroudsburg University.
Penn has scheduled an information gathering for students and other members of the university community at noon today in the Hall of Flags in Houston Hall on campus.
By Frank Warner
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