The Pittsburgh Pirates fan who fell more than 20 feet onto the field at PNC Park has been identified as Kavan Markwood, a 20-year-old former college football player, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Markwood was at the center of a haunting scene Wednesday in the seventh inning of the Pirates’ game against the Chicago Cubs after he tumbled over a railing in right field, flipped multiple times and landed on the warning track. He was motionless and shirtless as EMS and the teams’ trainers attended to him, and was eventually taken off the field on a stretcher. The game was then resumed, ending as a 4-3 Pirates win.
Markwood was taken to Allegheny General Hospital and remains in critical condition as of Thursday morning. Per the Tribune-Review, witnesses said he had been excited about the Pirates’ rally and had taken his shirt off and poured beer on himself before his fall. It is unclear how he procured a beer at 20 years old.
A South Allegheny School District official reportedly confirmed Markwood, a 2022 graduate of South Allegheny High School, as the man who fell and praised his character:
“Everyone at South Allegheny would say he is a hard-working, highly resilient young man. He’s a fighter. He’s going to need that resiliency now. But he has it,” district spokeswoman Laura Thomson told TribLive. “He’s touched a lot of lives at South Allegheny. We’re a small community. He’s a household name here. Everyone knows him.
“He has the prayers and the support of the South Allegheny community.”
Markwood has been a member of the football teams at Walsh University and Wheeling University, both Division II schools, with the latter program’s site saying he appeared in four games in the 2023 season, but with no information beyond that. Before that, he twice earned first-team all-conference honors in high school.
South Allegheny High School head coach Frank Cortazzo described him in glowing terms to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
“Kavan is not only an outstanding athlete but an even more exceptional young man. His resilience, heart and strength are truly unmatched. Please keep him, his family and his friends in your thoughts and prayers as they navigate this challenging time.”
The Pirates released a statement soon after the incident confirming the fan who fell had been hospitalized. Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who hit a double shortly before Markwood fell, posted a tweet saying he was praying for him.
