ROCKFORD, Ill. -- A landscaper known for organizing and coaching local softball teams died after he fell off his riding mower, struck his head and became pinned under the machine.
The body of 57-year-old Rodney W. Bogdonas was discovered early Tuesday morning when a friend became concerned because Bogdonas did not meet her the previous night for dinner. The friend found Bogdonas' truck parked at AutoZone, 201 S. Alpine, where Bogdonas had been working. She found his body behind the auto parts store. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:45 a.m.
Bogdonas died as a result of "positional asphyxiation," said Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia. Police are calling his death an accident.
Fiduccia said tire marks on a nearby drainage pipe suggest that the mower flipped when one of the tires slipped on the pipe, throwing the mower off-balance. Bogdonas fell and hit his head on concrete lining the drainage ditch below where he was mowing. Fiduccia and police agreed that the incline is steep.
The Toro mower, which weighs anywhere from 800 to 1,000 pounds, came to rest on the unconscious man, causing him to stop breathing, Fiduccia said.
"Basically, the riding mower he was on tipped over and threw him to the ground, where he hit his head on a piece of concrete and was knocked unconscious," Fiduccia said.
AutoZone spokesman Roy Pohlman said Bogdonas had been privately contracted to mow the lawn. He wouldn't give any further comment.
Aside from trauma caused to his head by the fall to the concrete, Bogdonas suffered no other injuries and didn't have a heart attack or other health problems, Fiduccia said.
Herb Healy, who played on several slow-pitch softball teams Bogdonas assembled and managed for the Lithuanian Club from the mid-1970s through mid-1980s, called Bogdonas a "fantastic coach who knew how to put together a team with no superstars that could compete with the best teams in town."
"He found good players who were on nobody's radar, got them to play together and not be jealous," Healy said.
Bogdonas also was known for years as the statistician for Rockford Auburn High School sports, Healy added. They shared memories of attending a testimonial event for legendary coach Dolph Stanley when they were teens.
Brenda Paulson, Illinois president of the United States Specialty Sports Association, remembered Bogdonas, who also served as an umpire until about five years ago, as a booster of slow-pitch softball from the time they ran the men's and women's leagues at the now-defunct Ace of Diamonds park.
"He found good players right out of high school," Paulson said. "They might not have been thereally big teams like the RMAs or some of the others, but his teams were among the first really good young teams in Rockford."
Bogdonas is survived by his parents, his brother and his two sisters.
Riding lawn mowers
· The average mower weighs from 800 to 1,000 pounds.
· 90 percent of all injuries on a riding mower occur to "first-time" operators.
· One in every five mower deaths involves a child.
· Do not carry passengers on a riding mower.
· When on a slope, it is always safer to mow up and down than from side to side. If the slope is too steep, the mower may lose traction.
· Disengage the blade when going over concrete or gravel.
· More than 100,000 individuals are seriously injured every year from lawn-mowing accidents.
· 75 people die each year from their injuries.
· Objects thrown from the blades can exceed speeds of 170 miles an hour.
Sources: Web sites from Riding Lawn Mower Safety; Health Minute