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Cowboys assistant coach set for surgery

IRVING, Texas—The Dallas Cowboys' special teams coach is set to undergo surgery on a cervical vertebrae that fractured when the team's tentlike practice facility crumpled under heavy winds, and government officials began investigating the collapse Monday.

U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors were on site Monday, spokeswoman Elizabeth Todd said, and officials with the city of Irving were looking through construction and inspection paperwork pertaining to the $4 million structure built in 2003.

Special teams coach Joe DeCamillis, 43, was one of 12 people injured and three Cowboys staff members still in the hospital after Saturday's collapse. He was scheduled for surgery Monday, but team spokesman Rich Dalrymple said there was no information available.

The most seriously injured was Rich Behm, the team's 33-year-old scouting assistant who was permanently paralyzed from the waist down after his spine was severed. Behm and assistant athletic trainer Greg Gaither, 35, both remained hospitalized. Gaither had surgery to repair a fracture to the tibia and fibula in his right leg and was expected to be released later this week.

About 70 people, including 27 players attending a rookie minicamp, were in the structure when the storm hit. Wind in the area was clocked at 64 mph, 1 mph shy of the threshold for a weak tornado. National Weather Service officials said a "microburst" may have pushed the wind beyond 70 mph at the top of the structure.

Behm, DeCamillis and Gaither were standing on the field when the structure gave way, sending debris such as the framework and lights crashing to the ground.

Most players at the minicamp were drafted the previous weekend or signed as undrafted rookies, but none were hurt. No veterans were involved. Coaches, support staff and media were also in the no-frills building, which is pretty much a 100-yard football field with a few more yards of clearance all the way around. The roof was 80 feet high, the equivalent of an eight-story building.

Media were restricted from the Cowboys headquarters through at least a week "due to ongoing work that is scheduled to take place in the aftermath of the accident."

OSHA spokeswoman Elizabeth Todd said by law the agency, which investigates workplace accidents, has six months to make a report. But a report could come sooner depending on the complexity of the case, she said.

By DANNY ROBBINS