Florida high school football player dies after game – latest tragedy of the school year

A popular Florida high school football player died after collapsing during a game Friday night, school officials said, bringing the number of recently known deaths among high school athletes to seven.

Chance Gainer, a 12th-grader at Port St. Joe High School in the Florida Panhandle, was playing cornerback in an away game at Liberty County High School when he fell to the ground just before halftime, Gulf District Schools Superintendent Jim Norton told CNN on Saturday.

“He's an extraordinary young man who can be turned into a hero,” Norton said. “I would call Chance a friend.”

Less than a month after his 18th birthday, Gainer was pronounced dead at a local hospital, Norton said, leaving his parents and siblings to face a future without him.

The National Federation of State High School Associations announced last week that six high school athletes had died in the past month, four of them from heart problems and two from strokes, the Associated Press reported. Gainer's death brings the number to seven.

These deaths include, as CNN previously reported, at least three football students in the United States who have died since the start of the new school year.

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

Gainer's cause of death has not yet been announced. CNN has reached out to the coroner's office in Pensacola, Florida, for more information.

Norton says Gainer was walking back to a defense group after a drinking break when he collapsed and became unconscious. The superintendent said he did not know if Gainer had any medical conditions.

The number of children getting injured on the field has increased in recent years. The overall number of injuries resulting from youth participation in soccer dropped dramatically between 2013 and 2019, reached a plateau in 2020 – coinciding with the Covid-19 lockdowns – and rose again in 2021, according to the latest figures from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

His smile beamed

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

Gainer's death has shaken the small beach community of Port St. Joe, Norton said. The high school there has about 500 students and is very close-knit.

“Staff and friends of the school, as well as community clergy, gathered at Port St. Joe High School following the tragedy just to be together and show their love to the family, who joined them once they returned to town,” Norton said in a statement.

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

“Academically, he had the grades,” Norton said. “He was really excited about the possibility of going to Vanderbilt because of the educational opportunities it would have offered him.”

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

Gainer was naturally warm and calm, 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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