PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – The Port St. Joe extended football and High School family are in a state of shock as they mourn the loss of star athlete Chance Gainer. The 18-year-old honors student and football player collapsed on the field Friday night as his team played against Liberty on the latter’s field.

Chance was tended to on the field, and we’re told by Gulf County School Superintendent Jim Norton that he did not have a pulse when EMTs first got to him. Mr. Norton says they were able to get a pulse before putting Gainer in an ambulance. He was then rushed to a hospital in Blountstown. It was there Norton says that Gainer passed away.

Mr. Norton went on to tell us everyone associated with Port St. Joe High School, and the Tiger Sharks football program are absolutely crushed by Gainer’s passing. Norton says Chance, as an athlete “Had world-class speed, but more importantly had a world class personality.” Norton goes on to say Gainer, who had a better than 4.0 grade point average, had recently visited Vanderbilt University, to discuss the possibility of attending college there.

The Superintendent says he is already in the process of lining up grief counselors to come into the school to help the football players and all the students, teachers, and staff at Port St. Joe High School deal with this incredibly sad situation.

Mr. Norton tells us the game this coming Friday against Blountstown has already been postponed.

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