Franklin High junior who died after collapsing at football practice identified

Leslie Noble, 16, was a junior at Franklin High School who played as a guard on the school’s football team. He died Wednesday after collapsing during football practice. Courtesy

The 16-year-old who died after suffering a medical emergency Wednesday on Franklin High School’s athletic field was a football player who was at practice when he collapsed, family and friends of the teen confirmed.

Leslie Noble, a junior guard on Franklin’s varsity football team, was identified Friday in various social media posts and an online fundraiser seeking to assist the teen’s family with funeral costs. Noble’s mother verified the fundraiser was authentic when reached by The Baltimore Sun.

Noble, who started on the varsity team during his freshman year in 2022, was “known for his outgoing personality and his talents on and off the football field,” Tekeiska Perry, a friend of Noble’s family, wrote on the fundraiser site.

“His infectious laughter, his unwavering love for his family and friends and his bright future ahead of him has been cut short,” Perry wrote on the site, also noting that Noble’s family was dealing with an “unimaginable” emotional toll and had already felt an “outpour[ing] of empathy and love from everyone during this process.”

The Baltimore County Fire Department said crews responded at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday to the school’s football field for reports of a child experiencing a medical emergency. Lifesaving measures were already in progress when first responders arrived, the department said. The teen was taken in critical condition to a hospital, where he died.

On Baltimore County police radio Wednesday morning, a dispatcher asked officers to respond to the high school’s football field for an “unconscious subject,” adding that a “player had a heatstroke.”

A spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that Noble had been taken in for an autopsy to determine his cause and manner of death, including if the teen’s death was heat-related.

Franklin High Principal Kieran J. O’Connell wrote in a Wednesday message to parents that the school was “devastated” by the news. A spokesperson for Baltimore County Public Schools said Friday the school system had “not shared any additional information” on the matter.