NIU sophomore football player Shea Fitzgerald was one of 12 people killed about 12:30 a.m. Sunday when a porch collapsed at his older brother’s third-floor apartment in Chicago’s Lincoln Park.

Fitzgerald, 19, apparently was sandwiched between the fallen porch floors that caved in to the basement. A total of 57 people were injured at the party on Chicago’s North Side, just south of Wrigleyville.

Among the dead was Fitzgerald’s best friend, 21-year-old Sam Farmer, a University of Arizona student. Fitzgerald and Farmer both graduated from New Trier High School, where Fitzgerald was an all-state performer in football and wrestling.

NIU teammates Pat Raleigh, 20, and Brad Cieslak, 21, also were at the party with Fitzgerald, but they were not injured.

“I didn’t see it happen,” said Cieslak, who was at the apartment with Fitzgerald and Raleigh since about 2 p.m. Saturday watching the Cubs game. “Me and Pat had just walked inside [from the porch], and we took about 10 steps inside and it sounded like a 300-foot tree had fallen. We saw the floor was collapsed down to the basement – it was gone in almost the blink of an eye.

“Right when it happened, me and Pat ran outside, and by the time we got there, there were already people throwing boards out in the back alley and everyone was just trying to grab someone’s hand.”

Chicago Police said as many as 40 or 50 people may have been on the porch at the time of the collapse, and there may have been beer kegs and dancing on the porch.

According to reports, 21 victims were taken to the Illinois Masonic Hospital. One of those victims was a woman who was found without a pulse, was revived and, as of press time, remains in critical condition.

“Our entire team, coaches and staff are saddened by the tragic events of this past weekend,” said NIU coach Joe Novak, who was in Hawaii when he heard the news. He is expected to cut the vacation short and return to DeKalb this morning.

A 6-foot-8 offensive tackle, Fitzgerald would have been a junior academically this fall and a sophomore athletically, because he redshirted his freshman year. Last season he served as a backup left tackle to Tim Vincent, who now is a free agent with the Chicago Bears. He played in 12 games last season as part of the placement team, and he started at right tackle versus Wisconsin.

With his size, he was expected to be a legitimate NFL candidate before his career at NIU ended.

“He had some pro aspirations,” said NIU Sports Information Director Mike Korcek, who compared Fitzgerald to NIU graduate and current Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman Ryan Diem. “He had his future ahead of him, definitely, and was a possible NFL player.”

Grief counselors were available beginning at 6:30 a.m. at Huskie Stadium on Monday for those coping with Fiztgerald’s death.

On Sunday and Monday nights, the team united and supported each other at Raleigh’s house.

“Everybody’s really gotten together and we have really gotten closer,” said NIU tight end Aaron Anderson, who was going to live with Fitzgerald this year. “It was tough at first, but everybody just came together and then started laughing about all the good times we had with Shea.”

Fitzgerald’s girlfriend of eight months, Jen Zasada, a 20-year-old junior at Illinois State University, thought he touched everyone’s lives.

“No matter who he’s talking to, he always touched somebody in some way,” Zasada said. “He was just the kindest, sweetest guy. I don’t know what I’m going to do without him. I never in a million years thought I would find someone as sweet as him, and he just blessed everyone.”