Port St. Joe mourns the loss of star football player

PORT ST. JOE, Fla. ( WMBB ) — The Port St. Joe community mourned the loss of high school football star, Chance Gainer.

On Friday, Port St. Joe was on the road playing the Liberty County football team. With just about four minutes remaining in the second quarter, Gainer suddenly collapsed.

From there he was transported to the Calhoun Liberty Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“You walk in the locker room, you’re gonna look at a locker and it’s going to be empty,” Port St. Joe head coach Tanner Jones said. “You can go back and watch game film for years and years and years.”

In his junior year, Gainer emerged as the Sharks’ star player, a breakout season that followed a couple of years of honing his raw potential and fiery personality.

“We went from those games of not knowing if Chance is going to get another 15-yarder,” Jones said. “Is he gonna say something? Is he going to celebrate too much because he was feisty.”

The summer before the 2023 football season, tragedy struck Port St. Joe when two of Gainer’s teammates and lifelong friends, TJ Jenkins and Andrew Sheppard passed away in a car accident.

Gainer dedicated his junior season to his best friends and from there, the rest is history.

“About week four or five last year, we saw it click with him and he realized, hey, I’m pretty good at this game and I can make things happen,” Jones said “I can determine the outcome of games.”

He emerged as a jack of all trades, scoring in every way offensively, defensively, and on special teams.

“He will be one of those guys where you watch film and you pull it up and you go, That’s Chance Gainer,” Jones said. “That was Chance. He could throw, he could run he could jump. Punt returns, kick returns. It didn’t matter.”

While, it was almost a guarantee that if Gainer had the ball, the Sharks would manage to score, he wanted to make sure all his teammates had enough touches to fill their highlight reel. But he would always be ready when his talents were needed.

“What he would do is he’d come stand by me,” Jones said. “He wouldn’t say a word. He’d just stand by me. I knew that was his way of saying, give me the ball. But he wasn’t boastful about it. He would just kind of go, hey, I’m here. If you need me, let me know where you want me to make something happen.”

Some of the words used to describe Chance are genuine and quiet, a soft-spoken individual but the ultimate senior leader of his team.

“The younger kids got to see leaders aren’t always vocal,” Jones said. “Sometimes it’s by actions and Chance was that guy, by actions.”

Because of who he was and what he did in the classroom, on Friday nights, or even on the basketball court, the Port St. Joe community is mourning yet another loss of a rising star.

“Resilient group of kids, with resilient parents living in a resilient community because they have been through some stuff in recent years and they stick together,” Jones said. “I’m amazed every day at what this community is capable of doing.”

Gainer’s impact reaches beyond the 3-mile Gulf front stretch of Port St. Joe. He’s remembered by the entire Panhandle and the state of Florida.

The ultimate teammate, friend, son, brother, and Tiger Shark, who spent his final moments wearing purple and gold.

Port St. Joe schools will return to school on Monday. There will be multiple grief counselors for students to visit with.

Tuesday will be a half day, and lunch will be provided to the football team, and Gulf County superintendent, Jim Norton is inviting other teams from around the area to join.

The Tiger Sharks’ game on Friday night against Blountstown has been postponed, and head coach Tanner Jones is letting his team decide what the remainder of the season will look like, and if they want to continue.

A GoFundMe was set up to support the Gainer family during this devastating time, to donate click here .

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