Crescenta Valley Mourns Death of Junior Varsity Volleyball Player

The Crescenta Valley High junior varsity volleyball team said goodby to a friend Tuesday and today will try to carry on without him in a Pacific League match at Arcadia.

But Coach John Nelson won’t blame the Falcons if they go through the motions one day after attending a funeral for Airn Dison, their 6-foot-3, 125-pound freshman middle blocker who left Friday’s match because of dizziness and died early Saturday.

“Volleyball is the most addictive game I’ve played,” Nelson said. “The players eat, drink and sleep volleyball. All of a sudden, volleyball is not very important. All of a sudden the gym is empty because a big, tall, smiling kid is not there.”

Dison, 14, said he felt dizzy and weak late in the first game of a 15-10, 15-10 loss to Brentwood Friday. He was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital and Nelson, Crescenta Valley’s football trainer, saw his condition worsen.

Dison died of a congenital malformation of veins in his brain, which apparently hemorrhaged during the match, at approximately 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

“The team is shocked,” Nelson said. “They thought it was food poisoning or the flu. They thought he would be OK.”

Services for Dison were held at Forest Lawn Church of the Recessional, where members of the volleyball team wore their jerseys and Nelson, an assistant coach and two players served as pall bearers.