High School Football Deaths Raise Concerns

At least 11 high school football players have died this year, either from head or neck injuries or heat-related illnesses. The most recent was a 17-year-old football player in Silver Springs, Kansas, who collapsed on the field after scoring an extra point and could not be revived.

Those numbers are raising concerns and have caught the attention of three members of Congress who want the federal government to study the problem. Three Representatives – Cedric Richmond (D-La.), Ralph Abraham (R-La.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) – introduced the High School Football Safety Study Act, which would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the causes of football-related deaths and create recommendations on how to keep them from happening.

Here & Now‘s sports analyst, Mike Pesca, speaks with host Jeremy Hobson about these deaths and what it means for the future of high school football.

Guest

• Mike Pesca, host of the daily podcast The Gist and NPR contributor. He tweets @pescami.

Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.