In less than three weeks, six teenagers have died during school football games. This alarming surge in football-related school deaths should be understood as a public health emergency. It is also a wake-up call that raises questions about why we are exposing young people to such a dangerous activity, let alone the institutions designed to nurture and develop them.
The first four of the most recent deaths were apparently caused by heat exposure, and the last two by head injuries. Five of the players were high school students, the oldest was just 16 and one was an eighth-grader at 13. The young players who died were Orvet Gomez Regalado (15) of Kansas City, Semaj Wilkins (14) of Alabama, Ja'Veon Taylor (15) of Virginia, Leslie Noble (16) of Maryland, Caden Tellier (16) of Alabama and Cohen Craddock (13) of West Virginia.
This comes on top of the death of Calvin Dickey Jr., an 18-year-old college freshman who died on July 12, two days after losing consciousness from sickle cell disease-related rhabdomyolysis during a practice at Bucknell University.
We shouldn't gloss over what happened here or claim it was a coincidence. We already know that football can cause life-altering harm. Between 2018 and 2022, at least 11 amateur or professional football players will die in the United States from heat-related causes. We also know that every 2.6 years of participation in tackle football (a sport in which many American children participate as early as age 5) doubles the risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive brain disease. We also know that football players are 61% more likely to develop Parkinson's disease compared to athletes in other organized sports, and 2.93 times more likely for college and professional players.
The impact of football tackling on the brain has long been understood and acknowledged in the NFL's concussion settlement, but it is often easily normalized and ignored, obscured by the convenience of helmets, skulls, and the passage of time. But the tragic deaths of kids playing school football should not be ignored.
Kathleen Baczynski, an assistant professor of public health at Muhlenberg College and author of No Games for Boys to Play: The History of Youth Football and the Origins of a Public Health Crisis, has a clear view of what's at stake.
“Can you imagine the public outcry if just one NFL player, let alone six, died from heat stroke or a head injury? We should be just as outraged about the deaths of children.”
Similarly, a former Southeastern Conference football player, who asked to remain anonymous, was shocked by the recent fatalities.
“It's horrifying to hear this story,” he said. “I don't know how many children and young people die during football games, but six in the past month is crazy. As a player and coach myself, the system seems to be rigged against athletes, regardless of whether their programs have adequate resources.”
“Personally, when I attended an SEC football camp, I asked the trainer for a heat guard, something that was emphasized by my high school coach in Alabama and eventually my college program when playing in a hot and humid environment. I was denied a salt tablet, even though I told them I was having cramps and not feeling well. Within an hour, I was unconscious and collapsed on the concrete.”
Can you imagine the public outrage if one NFL player, let alone six, died from heat stroke or head trauma? We should be just as outraged about the deaths of children. Kathleen Baczynski
Former Vanderbilt offensive lineman Jaybo Burrow also wasn't surprised by the recent news.
“I'm scared but not surprised at all by the start of this season,” he said. “I still believe that traumatic brain injury and football are synonymous. Participation in this sport at any level, regardless of skill level, creates long-term changes in your neurological condition. And the longer you play, the greater those changes will only get and the worse they will become.”
“Below the high school level, it is past time to ask ourselves what level of risk is acceptable when it comes to allowing our kids to participate in organized, state-sanctioned activities. When tragedies occur, the words 'freak accident' are usually attached. While the word freak may apply, it is never an accident. The greatest risk of participating in football is death from traumatic brain injury.”
Burrow said, “The game will continue to change, but the fundamental problem remains the same. Anytime you practice or play football where there is head-to-head contact, head-to-ground contact or anywhere there is the possibility of head contact, you are at risk of brain injury. That means risk of death. I think there was an article last week about a young man who died in Alabama that said witnesses could not identify the exact moment that led to the player's death. Football is about moments. Every collision that involves the head is a moment where that can happen. If you choose to remove that risk from your child's life, football cannot exist as it is. Personally, I believe that allowing your child to participate in tackle football is signing a waiver that says you understand the risks. It should not be taken lightly and it should not be dismissed as a freak accident.”
Similarly, several former college football players we spoke to for our upcoming book said their experiences in the sport convinced them it was morally unsustainable, given its devastating costs.
As one player explained, “I don't think this game should exist. We cannot consider ourselves a progressive society as long as this kind of thing is prevalent. That's why this game shouldn't exist. There is no guarantee that we can keep kids safe from this game, in this game, or during this game. Your rules and whistles are not going to keep kids safe.”
Another player added, “I'd played basketball my whole life, and then my high school coach talked me into playing football because I was bigger, so I never played football. That was probably the worst mistake I ever made. If I'd known what I knew, I would never have played.”
He later added: “Football is hands down the worst sport in history. I'd rather have two people trying to kill each other in a boxing ring. It happens at least once every few months. It's something that happens every day.”
In 1905, 18 people were killed during football games, leading several universities to drop the sport, President Teddy Roosevelt to push for security reforms, and the president of Harvard University to call football “more cruel than professional wrestling, cockfighting, or bullfighting.” More than a century later, it's clear that the reforms that followed haven't done enough to protect children from the brutality.
If we truly want to protect our kids, reform alone is not enough. We need to seriously consider the issue of abolishing tackle football, especially in our schools.
Burrow described the reality of tackle football today this way: “You suffer some kind of brain trauma, you never know the full consequences of participating in this sport, and you're constantly at risk of death.”
