Hotter summers are making high school football a fatal game for some players

Associated Press

BRANDON, Mississippi (AP) — The beginning of high school football season has seen a string of deaths. Players are most at risk in the late summer months of August and September of suffering heat-related illnesses due to searing temperatures and high humidity. Those conditions have worsened in recent decades due to climate change. Fifty-eight players have died from exertional heat stroke between 1992 and 2024, according to the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut, and thousands more are sickened each year. This summer has been especially bad, with five high school players dying since July of suspected heat-related illnesses.