An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday to determine how a high school football player from a tiny school in western Kansas died on the first day of practice.
The teen died around 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett.
“I did not know the young man personally, but know his parents,” McNett said in a statement to the Great Bend Tribune. “They are very active in the community and my heart breaks for them.”
In a phone interview, McNett identified the student as 17-year-old Rylan Reece, a junior. McNett said Rylan’s mother volunteers in the school district and his father is a former Pawnee County undersheriff.
McNett said the 911 call came in at 8:30 p.m. At 9 p.m., he was called by Pawnee County Sheriff Larry Atteberry, who told him the student died after deputies and paramedics responded to the practice field.
At the time of Rylan’s death, it was 90 degrees with 58% humidity in Great Bend, according to the National Weather Service. It is unclear whether the weather played a role in the teen’s death.
An autopsy was originally scheduled in Garden City but was moved to Wichita. McNett said he ordered the autopsy after Rylan’s family agreed.
The high school is in Rozel, Kansas, about 40 miles southwest of Great Bend.
The Pawnee Heights School District has two schools and about 140 students. The high school plays six-man football and last year had 17 players on its roster.
"We extend our most heartfelt sympathies to all those who are hurting and are focused on providing support and care to our school district community," Pawnee Heights principal Tina Vondracek said in an email to KAKE-TV. "This week, we are focused on caring for our students, staff and community."
Past deaths of Kansas football players
Rylan is the fifth Kansas football player to die around conditioning in the past eight years.
All previous victims have been big linemen. Rylan, however, is listed as a 140-pound fullback and wide receiver, according to an online roster.
The first death in recent memory happened in August 2018 when 19-year-old Braeden Bradforth died after his first practice as a freshman at Garden City Community College.
In August 2021, 19-year-old Tirrell Williams died at Fort Scott Community College after a grueling preseason workout where players were being punished by the head coach because there was trash on the field.
And in August 2023, Myzelle Law, also 19, died after a workout at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe. The cause of his death has not been made public.
Most recently, in 2024, 15-year-old Ovet Gomez Regalado died of complications of heat stroke after an August workout at Shawnee Mission Northwest.
The National Registry of Catastrophic Sports Injuries documented 159 deaths from exertional heat stroke in youth, high school and college football players between 1955 and 2021, according to research published in 2024. That's an average of two deaths per season — but the rate has been growing.
Last year, Delia Montes, a cross-country runner at Dodge City Community College, spent weeks in intensive care after she collapsed while running in 102-degree heat. She eventually recovered.
Neighbors have set up a Meal Train page for the Reece family in Rozel. And Valley Community Church will hold a time of prayer for the family from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Larned campus.
