IOWA CITY, Iowa — A University of Iowa band member died on Tuesday after suffering heat stroke and sudden cardiac arrest during Saturday’s home football game.

Derek Phillips, a third-year student from Dubuque, Iowa, and the mellophone section leader of the Hawkeye Marching Band, was stricken moments before the band was set to perform its halftime show at Kinnick Stadium as Iowa faced Northern Illinois, KCRG reported.

In an Instagram post, Phillips’ family said that the band member had been taken off life support after he was transferred to University of Iowa Hospital.

“The damage to his brain was too severe, and we have made the heartbreaking decision to remove life support,” they wrote.

Family members called Phillips “was a phenomenal musician.”

“Whether he was playing jazz, singing his heart out, or marching under the lights, music was the language of his soul,” they wrote.

Temperatures soared to 94 degrees Saturday in Iowa City, and Iowa adjusted the start times for several athletic events during the weekend because of the hot weather, ESPN reported. The football game, which kicked off as scheduled, had a game-time temperature of 90 degrees, according to the sports cable news outlet.

It was the fourth-hottest football game played in Iowa City and the heat index was above 100 degrees, KCRG reported

The marching band and spirit teams performed their normal pregame ceremonies but wore shorts and T-shirts. Because of the expected heat, the band announced days before the game that it would perform in its alternate uniforms instead of the traditional wool uniforms, according to the television station.

The band did not perform its halftime show, ESPN reported.

In a message sent to the university’s School of Music and marching band family on Tuesday, Hawkeye Marching Band Director Eric Bush announced Phillips’ death, adding that “There is nothing more important than the safety of our students.”

“Their well-being is always at the top of my mind,” he wrote. “We are teaching them more than music and marching — and we are a family,” Bush wrote, according to The Gazette. “I told the band on Saturday, when we gathered after we departed from Kinnick Stadium, ‘As a parent, the care I have for my own son extends to every single marching Hawkeye.’”

Bush added that beginning this weekend and for the rest of the season, the band and the music school will honor Phillips’ memory.

“We will communicate those details as they take shape,” he wrote.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz opened his news conference on Tuesday by acknowledging Phillips, ESPN reported.

“On behalf of everybody associated with our program, just want to offer our thoughts, our condolences to his family, his friends, and all the people that he impacted in his life,” Ferentz said.

In a statement, university officials said they were thinking of Phillips and his family.

“We are grateful to his parents for providing regular updates to the students who love Derek,” the statement read. “This is heartbreaking for everyone who cares for him. The university is in close contact and is offering support. Both the HMB and School of Music have counselors on-site for students this week.”

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