--- title: Football NFL High School College Deaths: Fatalities by Season description: A look back at the years when the sport may have claimed more casualties than ever canonical: https://time.com/3387798/football-deaths/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-18T13:30:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:40.085Z article:section: History og:title: Football's Deadliest Seasons Ever og:description: Violence has always haunted the field og:url: https://time.com/3387798/football-deaths/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3015aa5d0a752046/6986a399e8524b0a19604b54/notre-dame.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Notre Dame Fighting Irish og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Football's Deadliest Seasons Ever twitter:description: Violence has always haunted the field twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3015aa5d0a752046/6986a399e8524b0a19604b54/notre-dame.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Deadliest Football Seasons on Record > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=c5bb8292-e279-426c-95b6-352ee91ca100&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=c5bb8292-e279-426c-95b6-352ee91ca100&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Football’s Ultimate Cost: The Chad Stover Story [Watch (HLS stream): Football’s Ultimate Cost: The Chad Stover Story](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OYDHBOhj.m3u8) (6:12)  _Published 2014-09-17. It was halloween night, and the Tipton Cardinals needed a tackle. Trailing 27-18 in the opening round of the Missouri high school playoffs, a stop here—would help keep Tipton’s fading season alive_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 18, 2014 1:30 PM UTC  The Notre Dame Fighting Irish run on the field during a game circa 1931 at the Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish run on the field during a game circa 1931 at the Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. Collegiate Images / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 18, 2014 1:30 PM UTC In the new issue of TIME, Sean Gregory looks at the risk of brain injury that accompany playing football. It’s a harrowing tale focused on the death of a high-school player. That risk is a problem that has lurked on the football field since the end of the nineteenth century. “Football killed 40 boys and young men during the 1931 season,” [TIME reported in the Dec. 14, 1931, issue](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,930056,00.html). “To approximate that record of deaths it is necessary to go back to 1905 when more than a score of players died and President Roosevelt stopped the roughness of play.” The article continued: --- > “” --- That 1931 record may still stand. With more than a century of football played throughout the United States, it’s difficult to determine exactly how many deaths are related to the game each year. Early seasons, [like the legendarily tough 1909 year](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9406E5DC143EE033A25752C2A9679D946897D6CF), have their high injury counts blamed on lack of protective equipment — but prior to 1931, and especially prior to that 1905 year when Teddy Roosevelt [intervened](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/05/29/teddy-roosevelt-helped-save-football-with-a-white-house-meeting-in-1905/) to make the sport safer, it’s hard to find any numbers at all. Starting in 1931, coaches with joined the Committee on Injuries and Fatalities of the American Football Coaches Association to track football-related injuries and fatalities. The group has issued a report every year since (with the exception of 1942), though its methods of measurement have evolved over the years. It separates direct fatalities (the result of a “traumatic blow to the body,” in the words of the 1966 report) from indirect football-related deaths (in the words of [the latest report](http://nccsir.unc.edu/files/2014/06/Annual-Football-2013-Fatalities-Final.pdf), “caused by systemic failure as a result of exertion while participating in a football activity or by a complication which was secondary to a non-fatal injury,” eg. heart failure or heat stroke), and counts players at every level from “sandlot” to professional. The committee counted 49 deaths related to football in 1931–31 direct and 18 indirect. The only year on record between 1931 and 2013 with more direct fatalities was 1968 (36), but that year’s indirect fatalities were lower (12) than 1931\. Indirect fatalities were only equal or higher in 1933, 1935, 1936, 1961, 1965 and 2009\. Only 1965 manages to tie 1931 for total deaths, leaving them sharing the title of deadliest year. From the beginning, the point of keeping track was to figure out ways to bring the numbers down. (The reports, organized by a group of people closely linked to the sport, also tend to point out how small the numbers are in terms of percentage of players.) That 1931 article, published shortly before the first fatalities report, suggested a few ideas: --- > “” --- Dr. Reik’s advice seems unlikely to ever be heeded, though [his modern descendents](http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/01/30/what-if-there-was-no-super-bowl/) are out there. Football is death for some, and a way of life for many. **_Read more about the dangers of the game in this week’s issue of TIME:_** [The Tragic Risks of American Football](http://time.com/3397085/the-tragic-risks-of-american-football/) ## Transcript I describe it to people like an ocean. Like the waves, sometimes the waves come in and they're small and you can stand up. And sometimes they come crashing in no matter how hard you try to hold your ground. There's just nothing you can do. In early June, I went to Tipton to do a story about Chad Stover, a football player from Mattel, and it's affected me in ways I never could have imagined. [ MUSIC ] In Tipton Missouri, football is king. It's a small ad town. You know, everybody knows everybody. [ MUSIC ] In a small community like this, football players are, are also your basketball and your baseball players, for the most part. From the time he was little bitty. That's, that's what he always wanted to do. Football is a great game. At it's best it can bond small towns, particularly on the high school level. It's also a violent game. After we've experienced what we've experienced, we truly realized the depth. The ramifications that can come from just a hit. It's scary. The 2013 Tifton football season was, you know, kind of middling. They were, they weren't that great but they made the playoffs. And they were about to play Sacred Heart and it was Halloween night. Towards the midpoint of the first half, Cad was on defense and had a nasty head to head hit. It was quick and nobody as far as I could tell really noticed it, and he continued to play. There were just under seven minutes left in the second half. Chad dives, makes a fairly fundamental play, but the thigh of the running back hit Chad's head. Twice is asked, are you okay? Twice he says, I'm good, and he goes back into the huddle. I remember looking at the play clock and thinking [ MUSIC ] We're almost done. And my mom actually turned and looked at me and said season's almost over, time to move on, we're almost done Chaddy. Chad came out of the huddle. As he was almost lined up he collapsed into the arms. One of his best friends. [ MUSIC ] Petis County ambulance, what's the address of your emergency? Jennie Jaynes football stadium. Got a, we've got a kid down on the field. OK. Yeah, they said them need them now. We've got them on the way already. I knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. I wanted to run. I just wanted to get there as fast as I possibly could. And I had his helmet off. I had a tear running down the side of his face. And I just wanted him to know that I was there. And that I was with him. So I got on my knees and I kissed his head, and I told him it's all right Chadie mama's here. And I remember told, someone told me, he can't hear you and I told them I don't care. I just want him to know I'm here. And I said. Stayed right there with him. Chad was air lifted to the trauma center at the University of Missouri, he fought for two weeks little signs of hope here and there but his condition never really. [ UNKNOWN ] improved, after two weeks in the hospital, Chad [ UNKNOWN ] passed away. He was 17 years old. [ MUSIC ] This is Chads's bow he got last year Chad got to go one time with it We're spending a lot of time with each other now, knowing how valuable the time is and what memories we can make, we try to make them now [ MUSIC ] What happened to Chad and our family hopefully, never happens to anybody else. When he left that day, he was in such a great mood. he was going to play football, and we never dreamed we wouldn't see him here again. This shouldn't be just another sad story. It should spark a conversation [ UNKNOWN ] We don't blame anybody, or even the game of football for that. [ MUSIC ] Chad lives on. He lives on in our memories. He lives on in everything that we do. And maybe he can make a difference. [ MUSIC ] At the top, the NFL is more popular than it's ever been. But on the youth level, we're seeing declines of participation. people, parents, kids are afraid about concussions and, and safety risks in football. The big question is going forward, if precautions aren't taken 20, 30, 40 years from now, who's gonna be playing this game? Will we still have Friday night lights? 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