Prep football player dies after making tackle week earlier

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. » A football player from a Bartlesville private school has died more than a week after making what players and coaches say was a routine tackle and had to be taken from the field in an ambulance.

School Superintendent Rocky Clark says Ben Hamm, a junior linebacker for Wesleyan Christian School, died at about 8 a.m. Saturday.

The Tulsa World reports no one knew how serious it was until teammates and coaches learned that Hamm was being rushed into surgery at a Tulsa hospital.

Hamm’s family moved to Bartlesville three years ago during his freshman year of high school, and he had played for the team ever since. He was team captain this year and a member of student council.