Cohen Craddock, 13, collided with other players during football practice on Friday and hit his head as he fell. "That created brain swelling, which started a snowball effect," his father, Ryan, told NBC News this week. Medics rushed to West Virginia's Madison Middle School, about 30 miles from Charleston, to treat the eighth-grader, who was then taken to a hospital. The next day, he died. "We would like everyone to know that Cohen was a wonderful, polite, and smart young man," the school principal said in a statement.
"I was unaware he had actually touched as many people as he had," the boy's father said. "Just his presence, just the way he conducted himself, his personality, it just made everybody happy." Ryan Craddock is lobbying for his son's teammates to start wearing Guardian Caps, which add a layer of protection from head injuries. "I think with the Guardian Cap it could have been a little bit of a different outcome," he said.
This summer's toll includes a 16-year-old high school quarterback who died Saturday in Alabama after suffering a head injury the night before during a game. A 14-year-old died elsewhere in Alabama after collapsing Aug. 13 during football practice, per USA Today. A 15-year-old in Kansas collapsed during practice the next day and died, and a 15-year-old in Virginia died after doing drills on Aug. 5. (More football injuries stories.)