Pirates fan who fell over railing at PNC Park identified as former college football player

PITTSBURGH (WBOY) — The Pittsburgh Pirates fan who fell over a railing at PNC Park Wednesday night and was rushed to a hospital in critical condition has been identified as a former football player for West Virginia’s Wheeling University and Ohio’s Walsh University.

Officials with the South Allegheny School District confirmed that Kavan Markwood, a former student at Wheeling and a linebacker for the school’s football team in 2023, was the man who fell off the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall, according to NBC News. He also played football at Ohio’s Walsh University before attending Wheeling.

Markwood is from McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and attended South Allegheny High School.

“There are some positive signs that were shared with me that he is responding to, but he’s fighting for his life right now,” David McDonald, the superintendent of the South Allegheny School District, told Pittsburgh’s KDKA. 

Walsh University, on Thursday night, urged followers to “pray for the full recovery” of Markwood.

“Lord, please surround him with your healing presence to restore his body and spirit,” reads a tweet shared by the university.

Markwood fell over a railing at PNC park during the seventh inning of the Pirates-Cubs game on Wednesday. He was on the ground for several minutes as medical crews rendered aid before rushing him off on a stretcher and transporting him to a local hospital, the Associated Press reported.

Pittsburgh Public Safety made a post on X/Twitter Thursday saying the “incident is being treated as accidental in nature.” Markwood was still in critical condition at Allegheny General Hospital’s trauma center as of Thursday.

Pittsburgh owner Bob Nutting said the club was “deeply saddened” and “truly heartbroken” over what he called a “terrible accident.”