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MILWAUKEE - Henry White was a standout basketball player at Milwaukee Washington High School. His family has now filed a million dollar lawsuit against Grambling State University, the school they blame for Henry's death.

Kirtrell Jordan was there in northern Louisiana when his friend passed away.

"It was terrible," Jordan told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray. "It's still hard to this day."

At 6-foot-6, Henry was a star in high school. He worked hard in junior college and earned a spot on the Division I team at Grambling State.

"His head was on the right path to where he wanted to be," said Henry's friend, Monty McCune.

Then last August, a coach ordered Henry and six teammates to run four miles on a 95-degree day. The 21-year-old athlete collapsed from dehydration. After almost two weeks in the hospital, he died.

"There were players in this run that hadn't cleared physicals. Mainly, Henry White," said his uncle, Jerome White.

The run violated NCAA pre-season training rules. Head coach Rick Duckett and two assistants lost their jobs.

"I am mindful of the tremendous loss by Miss Natalie Wood, the mother of Henry White," Grambling State Athletic Director Lin Dawson said during a September 2009 press conference. "This is a sacrifice that should not be asked of young men who came to this university."

The family is suing, claiming there are medical expenses the university has not paid and accusing the coaching staff of inhumane treatment. There is also Henry's now 2-year-old son, who will grow up without a father.

"This is one of the most egregious cases of institutional failure that I have ever encountered in my legal career," the family's attorney Larry English, said in a statement. "Grambling promised Natalie that it would take care of her son. And instead, because of its negligence, he is now dead."

English filed the lawsuit Friday in Louisiana at Caddo Parish State Court.

The university did not respond to a request for comment after the lawsuit was filed.