ANDERSON — Members of the varsity football team at Anderson High School are hoping area residents can help them bury one of their own after a sudden coronary incident took the life of their would-be wide receiver earlier this week.

When Steven Roberts collapsed on Monday, there was no reason to suspect the 17-year-old Anderson High School athlete was seriously ill, according to his father.

Roland Wilburn said his son was the picture of health.

“This is what makes it so strange,” Wilburn said Thursday. “He’s never been sick, not in his life, never. He played football, basketball, baseball ... never smoked, never drank. It just hit out of the blue.”

Roberts died unexpectedly Tuesday evening at 5:45 p.m. at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis of an apparent cardiomyopathy.

Since Roberts’ family is unable to pay for the $4,000 funeral to lay Steven to rest, players on the Anderson Indians football team are gathering donations to fund their teammate’s burial.

“He was a great kid, and he should be sent off in the best way he can be,” said Mark Williamson, 17.

Just days before his death, Roberts was on his way to grabbing a wide receiver position on the Anderson High football team.

He practiced with the varsity squad for the first time Aug. 5-6, according to football coach Pete Gast.

As a condition of his joining the team, Roberts had a physical and was cleared to play.

Roberts had previously played power forward for the basketball team and was expected to play again this season.

On Thursday, Aug. 7, Roberts began experiencing stomach pains. “At first, it just started out with a stomach virus, like he ate something,” his father said.

He skipped the next few football practices and stayed home, according to Gast, who said he didn’t think anything of the player’s absence, since many of his teammates had also been missing practices.

By the weekend, the young athlete was feeling drowsy, Wilburn said, but his condition did not seem life-threatening.

On Monday, Roberts’ illness turned serious.