A track and field coach for Orono Middle School collapsed during practice and died, a school district official said Friday.

An autopsy was scheduled for Friday for 51-year-old Bob Perry, of Independence, who was stricken about 4 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot of the high school, located in Long Lake, while members of the boys and girls teams were waiting at the track, said district spokesman Gary Kubat.

"The first responders were there almost immediately," Kubat said. "But they were unable to revive him."

Crisis teams were dispatched to the middle school and the high school Friday to help staff and students cope with the sudden loss, Kubat said.

Along with coaching track for the past six years, Perry also was an assistant coach with the high school football program for the past four seasons. He was not a teacher in the district. His two sons attend the high school.

Paul Walsh