I have been back and forth on posting this here, I actually wrote a post an hour or so after the game and delete it.
https://www.espn.com/espn/story?id=...igh-schooler-chance-gainer-dies-game-collapse
I am the radio Play by Play announcer for PSJ. This was by far the hardest radio call I have ever had to do.
Chance Gainer was an outstanding player, student and person. A quite young man that let his play and character do the talking. Just over a year ago Chance lost his 2 best friends in a car accident both top players as well. Chance was still struggling with loosing his best friend, Andrew Shepard...Andrews mother just this week went and gave Chance her sons bible with his notes to help Chance cope. Keep in mind this Senior class only has about 85 people in it and the football team has less than 50 people on it. They are a very close bunch... to loose 3 in a years time is just unthinkable. My daughter is also a part of that Class (she is now at a different HS)...
The day started with Chance not feeling great but after a nap was feeling better. The team traveled North about an hour to play Liberty County. It was wet and hot. Chance started the game off really well. He had a 70 yard touchdown earlier in the game. He was playing solid. Again we are a small team (1A rural) so most of our top guys play on both sides of the ball and STs. These kids are very well conditioned and Chance was one of the hardest workers in the off season. Somewhere in the 2nd quarter Chance was in coverage on the home side of the field, that play went to the visitor side so most attention was focused away from where Chance was. There was no hit on or from Chance, no contact at all. After the play as Chance look to be making his way off the field when he went down to his knees and then laid down on his stomach at midfield. At this point most of us are thinking cramps, he had struggled with cramps in the previous game. Head Coach Tanner Jones starts to make his way to him, He quickly calls for other coaches and then the EMTS. The teams defib was brought out and we knew it was much more serious. The field was wet so the EMTs could not drive on the field. The EMTs were in no hurry as I don't think they realized the gravity of what was going on. It seemed like an eternity for them to get out there then go back and get the stretcher. I can't really say more on the EMTs other than both Port St Joe and Liberty County were yelling at them to hurry. He was transported to the hospital in Blountstown where he was later pronounced dead.
At halftime I went down to the field as I always do to get updates and talk with some of the coaches. At this point the fans and players knew nothing more than the official word was he was Transported to the hospital and was being stabilized. However, the unofficial was the situation was "not good" .... Going back to that booth with my cohost, whos Son is a JR on the team, was difficult. We received a call with 7 min or so left in the Game that the Head Coach needed to come straight to the hospital. At that moment in the middle of the broadcast we stopped and prayed on air, and most that know me knew that we had received some news. A few min later we got the news that had passed. The last 3 min of that game took forever. I am far from a professional radio guy, I do it for fun and for the love of our kids and the community, I was not prepared to have to keep a gameface on and I failed miserably at my job in the moment. I don't know how people handle knowing that kind of news and not letting it come out in your voice.
As I walked out of the booth and made my way down the stands... about half way down the sound that came from the endzone where the PSJ players were was a sound I will never forget. The pain and the agony these kids were just hit was just to much. When I think of what hell would sound like that was it. There was a moment right before I made it to the players that it went dead silent for 10 seconds or so, maybe it was my brain trying to process or maybe it was really that quite, but I looked around and saw two rival communities embracing each other, parents and other adults picking these kids up off the ground and showing an out pouring of love. It was a small amount beauty in the middle of devastation.
Port St Joe is a respected but hated school for many in the Panhandle but the area schools have embraced us in this time. Schools all over the area are wearing Purple and Gold today in honor/Memory of Chance. Classes are canceled tomorrow as many area teams will be coming over for a lunch tomorrow. The rivalries are fierce in the panhandle especially for us small towns but the love and support that has come from the area is something special. It why I will always live in a small town.
Chance was you man of High Character. He comes from a great family. He was quite, always polite, but a baller on the field. He was an honors student who would have received academic scholarships. He was on the verge of getting an offer from Vandy with other D1 schools starting to show interest. Chances mom and dad are heavily involved in the lives of the young people in Port St Joe. In a moment of tragedy, Gal, Chances Mother, has been a rock for so many. She has been a mom to many that didn't have good home lives. The Gainers are a place of refuge for many young people. Now they need the love an support that they have shown time and time again. They can use your prayers now.
https://www.espn.com/espn/story?id=...igh-schooler-chance-gainer-dies-game-collapse
I am the radio Play by Play announcer for PSJ. This was by far the hardest radio call I have ever had to do.
Chance Gainer was an outstanding player, student and person. A quite young man that let his play and character do the talking. Just over a year ago Chance lost his 2 best friends in a car accident both top players as well. Chance was still struggling with loosing his best friend, Andrew Shepard...Andrews mother just this week went and gave Chance her sons bible with his notes to help Chance cope. Keep in mind this Senior class only has about 85 people in it and the football team has less than 50 people on it. They are a very close bunch... to loose 3 in a years time is just unthinkable. My daughter is also a part of that Class (she is now at a different HS)...
The day started with Chance not feeling great but after a nap was feeling better. The team traveled North about an hour to play Liberty County. It was wet and hot. Chance started the game off really well. He had a 70 yard touchdown earlier in the game. He was playing solid. Again we are a small team (1A rural) so most of our top guys play on both sides of the ball and STs. These kids are very well conditioned and Chance was one of the hardest workers in the off season. Somewhere in the 2nd quarter Chance was in coverage on the home side of the field, that play went to the visitor side so most attention was focused away from where Chance was. There was no hit on or from Chance, no contact at all. After the play as Chance look to be making his way off the field when he went down to his knees and then laid down on his stomach at midfield. At this point most of us are thinking cramps, he had struggled with cramps in the previous game. Head Coach Tanner Jones starts to make his way to him, He quickly calls for other coaches and then the EMTS. The teams defib was brought out and we knew it was much more serious. The field was wet so the EMTs could not drive on the field. The EMTs were in no hurry as I don't think they realized the gravity of what was going on. It seemed like an eternity for them to get out there then go back and get the stretcher. I can't really say more on the EMTs other than both Port St Joe and Liberty County were yelling at them to hurry. He was transported to the hospital in Blountstown where he was later pronounced dead.
At halftime I went down to the field as I always do to get updates and talk with some of the coaches. At this point the fans and players knew nothing more than the official word was he was Transported to the hospital and was being stabilized. However, the unofficial was the situation was "not good" .... Going back to that booth with my cohost, whos Son is a JR on the team, was difficult. We received a call with 7 min or so left in the Game that the Head Coach needed to come straight to the hospital. At that moment in the middle of the broadcast we stopped and prayed on air, and most that know me knew that we had received some news. A few min later we got the news that had passed. The last 3 min of that game took forever. I am far from a professional radio guy, I do it for fun and for the love of our kids and the community, I was not prepared to have to keep a gameface on and I failed miserably at my job in the moment. I don't know how people handle knowing that kind of news and not letting it come out in your voice.
As I walked out of the booth and made my way down the stands... about half way down the sound that came from the endzone where the PSJ players were was a sound I will never forget. The pain and the agony these kids were just hit was just to much. When I think of what hell would sound like that was it. There was a moment right before I made it to the players that it went dead silent for 10 seconds or so, maybe it was my brain trying to process or maybe it was really that quite, but I looked around and saw two rival communities embracing each other, parents and other adults picking these kids up off the ground and showing an out pouring of love. It was a small amount beauty in the middle of devastation.
Port St Joe is a respected but hated school for many in the Panhandle but the area schools have embraced us in this time. Schools all over the area are wearing Purple and Gold today in honor/Memory of Chance. Classes are canceled tomorrow as many area teams will be coming over for a lunch tomorrow. The rivalries are fierce in the panhandle especially for us small towns but the love and support that has come from the area is something special. It why I will always live in a small town.
Chance was you man of High Character. He comes from a great family. He was quite, always polite, but a baller on the field. He was an honors student who would have received academic scholarships. He was on the verge of getting an offer from Vandy with other D1 schools starting to show interest. Chances mom and dad are heavily involved in the lives of the young people in Port St Joe. In a moment of tragedy, Gal, Chances Mother, has been a rock for so many. She has been a mom to many that didn't have good home lives. The Gainers are a place of refuge for many young people. Now they need the love an support that they have shown time and time again. They can use your prayers now.
