A Florida Panhandle high school football player has died after collapsing during a game Friday night at Liberty County High School in Bristol.
Port St. Joe High School wide receiver and defensive back Chance Gainer collapsed during the game at Liberty County High School.
The 18-year-old senior was playing cornerback when a play went to the opposite side of the field, said Tim Davis, Port St. Joe’s athletic director and assistant principal.
Gainer was running toward the play when he collapsed, Davis told the Northwest Florida Daily News.
“He fell to the ground all of a sudden,” Davis said. Trainers rushed to his side and called paramedics, but they were unable to save his life.
He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died.
Chance Gainer, 18, collapsed and died during a game in Port St Joe on Friday night.
Gainer died after collapsing during a game Friday night at Liberty County High School in Bristol, Florida.
Gainer had scored a 70-yard touchdown earlier in the game and returned a 83-yard kickoff for a touchdown last week.
Davis said there were about four minutes left in Friday’s game when administrators learned of Gainer’s death.
The decision was made to let the game end and Port St. Joe won 28-0. Gainer’s teammates were informed of his death.
“The scene was heartbreaking. Parents rushed onto the field to comfort their children. It was a feeling of helplessness,” Davis said.
A police escort drove the team bus from Port St. Joe to the hospital where Gainer had died before the players returned home.
Gainer was an honors student and had recently visited Vanderbilt University to talk about attending there, Gulf County School Superintendent Jim Norton said. WJHG.
He was described as “one of the finest young men to ever walk the halls of Port St. Joe High School.”
Gainer had a grade point average above 4.0 and had recently visited Vanderbilt University to discuss a possible move there.
Gainer “had world-class speed, but more importantly, he had a world-class personality,” Norton said.
“He was an extraordinary athlete, a beloved teammate and, overall, an exceptional young man who loved Jesus. He was quiet, but exuded a disarming warmth and authenticity that drew people to him,” Norton continued.
He also revealed that the 18-year-old student had no pulse when paramedics first treated him, but they detected it before he was put into the ambulance.
Director Godwin said of Gainer: “You may not have heard Chance in the crowd, but you could see his smile from across the room.”
Port St. Joe’s game next week has been cancelled and a GoFundMe A page has been set up to help Gainer’s family and pay for funeral expenses.
“We want the Gainer family to feel like they are not alone in this heartbreaking time,” Norton said in a statement.
The late football star had a grade point average above 4.0 and had recently visited Vanderbilt University to discuss a possible move there.
Officials are hiring grief counselors to come to the school next week to help players, students, teachers and staff in the wake of the tragedy.
The National Federation of State High School Associations said last week that six high school players had died in the past month, four of them from heart problems and two from beatings.
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