Bernd Dittrich

An undetected heart condition may be to blame for the mysterious death of a star Simon Fraser University Clan quarterback.

But everybody around 21-year-old Bernd Dittrich, who died Wednesday after being found in the university’s diving pool Tuesday, already knew he had a big heart.

"The word I heard at the hospital was that his heart was too big and I said, ‘Well, heck, I knew that,’" said SFU head coach Dave Johnson. Johnson was talking about Dittrich’s out-sized spirit.

"He was an awesome athlete, but his athletic ability was half of what his character was and the kid he was," said Johnson.

Dittrich had a storybook career, beginning with a boyhood dream in his native Austria at the Vienna Vikings football club of playing North American-style football.

It was there that Dittrich found a coach who wouldn’t stray from his side for five years, watching him grow into a model young man first, a great football player second.

"He was really like a son to me. I felt responsible for his well-being, that he was a guy that needed to be taken care of on and off the field," said SFU offensive co-ordinator Shawn Olson who first trained Dittrich in his native Austria.

"I wish I would have told him what I thought of him to the full extent I would have liked," Olson said through tears.

"I could coach for the next 50 years and there is a good chance I’ll never come across another person like him." Dittrich was just 17 when he left his hometown of Vienna, Austria for Oklahoma where he finished high school in 2006 playing quarterback and linebacker for the Heavener Wolves high school team.

"Bernd was always trying to bust out," Vienna Vikings head coach Chris Calaycay said Wednesday night from Austria.

"I would never count anything out with that guy. He always told me, ‘Coach, I want to play in the NFL, that’s my first goal and if that doesn’t work out I want to come and play with the Vikings.’ "It’s sad that we won’t know what would have happened," Calaycay said.

Dittrich, who everyone called Bernie, joined the SFU Clan football team in August 2007 where Olson had taken a coaching position.

He was the model leader whose influence extended beyond the football field, according to senior director of athletics Dave Murphy.

"Bernie was known throughout the whole department," said Murphy. "It’s not just the football team that’s grieving today, it’s every team."

Johnson just last week had a season-ending half-hour meeting with Dittrich.

"I told him I was proud of him."

The entire Clan football team met Wednesday in their locker room to deal with the death, said Johnson.

"We wanted to be together and support each other," said Johnson.

"We talked about loving each other and supporting each other and our guys are doing that. I’m filled with grief."

Late Wednesday, SFU spokesman Don MacLachlan issued a statement saying that while the cause of death has yet to be officially determined, Dittrich had a previously-undetected heart condition.

Simon Fraser University’s acting president, Jon Driver, said until a coroner’s investigation is complete it won’t be known exactly what caused the star athlete to become unconscious in the pool Tuesday evening while rehabilitating an injured shoulder. The lifeguards took him out of the pool, performed CPR, an ambulance came and took him to the [Royal Columbian] hospital where he was put on life support. Unfortunately he passed away [Wednesday] morning," said Driver.

"We certainly had no information of any medical conditions. We simply don’t know what caused this."

Driver said school officials are doing everything possible to bring Dittrich’s family to Vancouver.

“For this to happen when he was so far away from home was very tough,” he said.

School counsellors are working with the team and pool staff.

In 2008, after a three-year losing streak for the Clan, Dittrich led the team to its best record since 2003, with a victory over the University of B.C. in the 2008 Shrum Bowl and to the Canada West championship final Hardy Cup, in which SFU lost to the University of Calgary.

In an emotional outburst on the field following an August 2008 game, a win over UBC that broke the long losing streak, Dittrich sobbed uncontrollably.

At the time Olson explained the tears with this: "I think when you’re a 12-year-old boy in Europe and your dream is to play college football, you think ‘How the heck am I ever going to make that happen?’ Well, he achieved it."

Dittrich only played six games this season due to a shoulder injury.

He was in his third-year of a bachelor of science degree.

He is survived by his family in Austria which includes his mom Karin who is a track and field coach and brothers Roman and Markus, both decathletes.