Florida high school football player dies after game, becoming the school year’s latest tragedy

(CNN) — A beloved Florida high school football player died after he collapsed during a game Friday night, school officials say, bringing the number of recent known deaths among high school athletes to seven.

Chance Gainer, a senior at Port St. Joe High School on Florida’s panhandle, was playing cornerback during an away game at Liberty County High School when he fell to the ground right before halftime, Gulf District Schools Superintendent Jim Norton told CNN on Saturday.

“He is an exceptional young man that you can make a hero out of,” Norton said. “I would call Chance a friend.”

Less than a month after celebrating his 18th birthday, Gainer was pronounced dead at an area hospital, Norton said, leaving his parents and siblings behind to contend with a future without him.

The National Federation of State High School Associations said last week that six high school student athletes died within the past month, four of them from heart issues and two from being hit, according to the Associated Press. Gainer’s death brings that number to seven.

Those deaths include at least three student football players in the US who have died since the start of the new school year, as CNN previously reported.

Alabama teen Semaj Wilkins died August 13 after a medical emergency during football practice at New Brockton High School, according to CNN affiliate WDHN. Caden Tellier, 16, suffered a fatal brain injury in his season opener the same day 13-year-old Cohen Craddock died after a collision in football practice.

Gainer’s cause of death has not been released. CNN reached out to the medical examiner’s office in Pensacola, Florida, for more information.

Norton says Gainer was walking back to a defensive huddle after taking a water break when he collapsed and was unconscious. The superintendent said he did not know if Gainer had any medical conditions.

The number of children getting injured on the field has risen in recent years. Overall injuries due to youth participation in football showed a dramatic decline from 2013 to 2019, plateauing in 2020 – coinciding with Covid-19 lockdowns – and heading back up in 2021, according to the most recent figures from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

His smile radiated

Gainer scored two touchdowns on the night of his death, Norton said, leading the team to victory.

Gainer’s death has shaken the small, beachside community of Port St. Joe, Norton says. The high school there has about 500 students and is very close knit.

“School staff and friends, and community clergy gathered at Port St. Joe High School following the tragedy just to be together and to love on the family who joined them as soon as they returned to town,” Norton said in a statement.

Gainer had recently visited Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where he had hoped to play football, according to Norton.

“Academically, he had the grades,” Norton said. “He was excited to death about the possibility of going to Vanderbilt for the educational opportunity that it would have afforded him.”

Chance is remembered by his parents, siblings and his junior high school sweetheart, who is a cheerleader for the high school football team, Norton said.

Gainer was warm and quiet by nature, Principal Sissy Godwin said in a statement.

“You may not have heard Chance in the crowd, but you could see his smile from across the room,” she said.

CNN’s Madeline Holcombe contributed to this report.

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