Middle school football player, 13, dies after being knocked unconscious during practice

A West Virginia 13-year-old has died after he was knocked unconscious practicing for his middle school football team. 

Cohen Craddock was entering his second year playing as a defensive lineman for Madison Middle School in Boone County. 

The team practiced on Friday evening and took a hit to the head during a tackle, his father Ryan said. 

Cohen, who was wearing a helmet, got up, started to take a few steps and then passed out. 

The school called 911, who discovered the boy’s brain was swelling and oxygen levels were decreasing.

The team practiced on Friday evening and took a hit to the head during a tackle, his father Ryan said

Craddock never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at 2:30pm the next day. 

Now father Ryan is grieving alongside an entire community over the death of his young son. 

‘He was Mr. Personality,’ Ryan told 13News. 

‘He liked to joke, he liked to make you smile. Even if he was feeling bad, he wanted to make you feel good. He was that type of person. Just a big heart; big teddy bear.’

The entire school district celebrated Cohen’s life on Monday by encouraging everyone to wear red.

‘Madison Middle School lost one of their football team members to a tragic accident on the field. We know as a family what that feels like and what the support from people across the state, country, and from around the world did for us,’ the school wrote in a Facebook post.

The school’s football team is still scheduled to play its game against Shady Spring on Friday night.

School Superintendent Matt Riggs celebrated Craddock in a statement. 

‘He liked to joke, he liked to make you smile. Even if he was feeling bad, he wanted to make you feel good. He was that type of person. Just a big heart; big teddy bear,’ Ryan Craddock said of his son

The grieving father is going to become an advocate for what’s known as Guardian Caps , a recent innovation of a waffled helmet covering that creates a soft-shell layer that can significantly reduce the impact of helmet-to-helmet hits 

‘As a Redhawk, Cohen was beloved by his classmates, his teachers, his administrators, and the entire Maddison Middle School staff…Our thoughts and prayers go out to Cohen’s family, friends, teammates, classmates, and the entire MMS staff.’ 

‘As our thoughts and prayers go out to Cohen’s family, we would ask that same from the community in that his family may find healing, comfort, protection, and strength,’ Riggs added. 

There were additional supports and services will be available for students, staff and athletes on Monday at the school.

For now, Ryan Craddock is encouraging everyone to hug their children tonight.  

‘You’re in disbelief,’ Craddock told WSAZ. ‘You wish it was a bad dream you could wake up from. It’s agony inside. I can’t put words to. It’s terrible.’ 

The grieving father is going to become an advocate for what’s known as Guardian Caps, a recent innovation of a waffled helmet covering that creates a soft-shell layer that can significantly reduce the impact of helmet-to-helmet hits.

According to the NFL, the cap can reduce the force of head contact by 10 percent when worn by one player, and by 20 percent if every player involved in a collision has one covering their helmet. 

‘I want to take the loss of my boy to try to protect the other guys,’ he said. ‘I don’t want anybody else to go through what we are going through currently.’