By Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MASON - A high school football player's heat stroke last year led to a stroke of genius that has won him a full college scholarship.

Sincer Jacob, 16, a senior at Mason HS, won a national science competition for making a kiwi fruit sweat. (Glenn Hartong photo)

Sincer Jacob doesn't remember much about passing out last September during practice in 98-degree heat. The energetic linebacker regained consciousness minutes later inside an ambulance speeding him to Bethesda North Hospital, where he would spend the next three days.

Sincer, whose family has a history of heart disease, was flabbergasted when doctors advised him to quit football rather than risk health complications from overheating.

"That wasn't an option," said Sincer, who had made a name for himself at Mason High School for his creative science experiments.

So he started looking at undergarments that would keep his body cooler by wicking away perspiration. He found wide differences in the microfiber materials available.

That triggered his curiosity. He decided to create a science experiment to learn which fabric works best.

But Sincer, 16, found that testing on humans was unreliable because every person reacts differently to heat.

So he turned to fruit.

Peach fuzz was too thin, but the hairs on a kiwi closely matched the density and consistency of those on the human epidermis.

"The kiwi was a great representation of the human skin. The hair on the kiwi resembles human hair and the kiwi's curvature resembles the curves of skin around human bones," he explained.

Naming his experiment "Don't Sweat It," he spent months poking and prodding dozens of kiwis, injecting them with saline to mimic human sweat and then wrapping them in four different types of fabric designed to wick away sweat. He rotated the kiwis in a chamber heated to 98 degrees and recorded the amount of sweat removed by each type of clothing material.

His novel experiment won him top state honors at the Ohio Science Day competition in May.

Later that month he was invited - all expenses paid - to travel to Portland, Ore., to compete in the annual Intel Science and Engineering Fair, the largest pre-college science competition in the world.

Competing against 1,500 other budding scientists from 38 nations, Sincer did not win any top awards but drew unanimous praise from judges for his innovative approach.

More important for the young man, who wants to be a doctor and a pilot for the Air Force, he was offered a full scholarship from Eastern Oregon University.

A PBS television crew taped him at the competition, and representatives from ESPN's Cold Pizza and The Ellen DeGeneres Show are interested in featuring him.

None of this surprises Linda Sutphin, the Mason secondary science curriculum leader who describes Sincer as "very driven."

"His scientific method is so strong, and he is going to be successful in whatever he does," said Sutphin.

Meanwhile, Sincer is preparing for his senior football season while mulling over his next unorthodox science project.

"I want to do something with amputations," he said smiling. "But I don't want to get one."

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E-mail mclark@enquirer.com