A wrestler wanted to be a champion. Police say he asked for water. Now, he's in a casket.
On August 31, 2020, during the first day of conditioning, University of the Cumberlands wrestler Grant Brace begged for water.
The more Brace begged, a police report says, the more his coaches refused aid.
Athletes don't die from heat without warning signs, but the 20-year-old collapsed from exertional heat stroke, a condition experts say is 100 percent preventable.
For seven months, Local 12 dug through records to find out why Grant collapsed.
Then Local 12 drove to a small town in east Tennessee to meet those who knew him.
In the telling of this story, Local 12 will explore what it costs to create champions.
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The wrestling mat is where two forces meet.
“To be a wrestler, you have to enjoy challenging yourself,” said Jason Russell, Thomas More University head wrestling coach.
“Those seven minutes end up feeling like an hour sometimes,” said Ryan Moore, a Thomas More University wrestler.
It’s where months of preparation face off on the mat.
“It’s kind of like you’re in a car driving and you want to go left and the person in the passenger seat wants to go right,” Russell said. “It’s basically you trying to get your opponent to do something they don’t want to do and you want them to do.”
“Lots of twisting and contact in just about every way,” Moore said, “that a lot of people aren’t used to.”
“You’ve got to be tougher,” Russell said. “Better conditioned, mentally stronger.”
“It takes just as much to get good as it takes to stay good,” Moore said.
It’s where there are two outcomes: those who win and those who learn.
“I think that’s the great thing about wrestling is because there’s an individual aspect to it you can feel that individual improvement and feel yourself getting better every day,” Russell said. “Someone who isn’t afraid to work hard and make sacrifices toward their dreams and goals. They’re willing to put themselves through some pain and discomfort to make that happen.”
“Everything either adds up to your goals or subtracts from the possibility of obtaining them,” Moore said.
On this Saturday in Bowling Green at the Mid-South Conference Tournament, Thomas More faces off against other teams in the north division like Campbellsville, Midway, Lindsey Wilson and the University of the Cumberlands.
This is where their preparation and their sacrifices determine who will qualify for the NAIA wrestling national championships.
“To be a wrestler, you have to enjoy challenging yourself too,” Russell said. “And so I feel like that’s part of it where you might get put into a bad position sometimes on the mat but it’s like alright let’s see if I can get out of this one.”
“Pushing yourself is another side of that, that mental that is really hard because a lot of people, as soon as you start to get tired, it’s like, 'It’s alright I can just give up,'” Moore said. “But when you’re out there with four more minutes left to wrestle in a close match and you’ve got to dig down deep and figure out how to win, that really brings out the side most people don’t see of wrestling.”
There's a wrestler not at the tournament.
His name is never announced.
His hard work receives no applause.
His commissioner doesn't immediately recognize his name.
Grant Brace wanted to be a champion.
Instead, he's in a casket.
*****
“Tough times don’t last, ya know,” said Brian Gossett. “That’s the big one.”
Grant Brace wrote an inspirational quote daily on a dry erase board.
The words were meant to motivate.
On August 31, 2020 the day he died, he wrote “Tough times never last. Tough people do.”
Grant was grappling with quitting his college wrestling program during the summer of 2020 when he ran into his high school wrestling coach, Brian Gossett.
“Grant walked up and hugged me,” Gossett said of the last time he saw his former wrestler. “We hadn’t talked in a little while at that point.
“He said, ‘Coach, I’m not sure if I’m going to go back to wrestling this year.’ And I said, ‘Well you know what, you’re the one that’s got to do the work. You’re the one that’s got to put in the hours so if that’s not what you want to do, then don’t do it.’ He said, ‘Well I hadn’t really made up my mind.
“And I was like, ‘Well buddy, you get that degree. That’s the most important thing.’”
Gary Rankin was Grant's high school football coach.
“He’s literally one of the sweetest football players that’s ever come through this school,” Rankin said
Rankin knows how to build champions.
He's won 13 state titles at Alcoa, three with Grant.
“I knew he was going to wrestle,” Rankin said. “He was a really good wrestler. I knew his football career was over, but I knew he’d have a great career doing something and he’d have a successful life because he was that type of kid.
“I mean, he was a pleaser. He did everything right. He was never in trouble in school or anywhere. You knew he was on the path of having a happy and productive life.”
“When he was your teammate, you were his teammate,” Gossett said. “And he was loyal to some people that weren’t always nice to him. He was loyal to some people sometimes that didn’t always give him the same loyalty in return.”
Rankin said: “Number 99? Huge character.
“We give awards for those guys that aren’t the best football player: the ones that didn’t score the most points. The ones that didn’t get the scholarship, but we give two or three out for the guys that were the try hard guys, the guys that were the coaches favorite those kind of things. Things that you want your son to be and he received one of those awards.”
Gossett said: “I said, ‘So don’t feel like you’re letting anybody down. Just understand, you’re the one that’s got to go do it. Then he kind of let me know a little later that he was going to go back and I just wished him well.”
Rankin said: “He’d do anything you’d ask him to do. He was one of those guys and I think that -- I can just see in him whatever they were doing conditioning wise, he wasn’t going to quit.”
*****
Tucked in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Kentucky, on your way south toward Gatlinburg, is a small-private university hugged by the Cumberland River.
The last day in August 2020 was the first day of conditioning for the University of the Cumberlands wrestling program.
The campus was fairly quiet. Students were learning remotely due to coronavirus.
Overnight, rain and clouds brought humidity. By the afternoon, it was a still hot and humid. Weather reports show the temperatures were in the mid 80s.
The morning following Grant's death, Williamsburg Police Department interviewed more than 40 members of the wrestling team were at the first day of conditioning.
The timeline of events that happened on August 31, 2020 are all detailed in a report obtained by Local 12 Investigates.
That report is written by Williamsburg Police chief Wayne Bird.
This is what the report says happened.
Practice began with weight-lifting and drills for short-range hand-to-hand combat known in wrestling as hand-fighting.
Then the team went to the track at the university's football stadium to run sprints.
Grant's teammates told officers they were allowed to take a water bottle out to the track,
but the coaching staff told them to "throw their water bottles on the fence and not touch them."
The report doesn't say whether they were allowed to drink at any point from the water bottles.
After finishing up at the track, the team ran from Taylor Stadium along Second Street about a mile to School Street to a grass hill right outside the Luecker Building. That’s the building that houses the team's wrestling facility.
That hill, measured by police, is approximately 200 feet in length on a 30-40 percent incline.
It's known around the wrestling program as "punishment hill."
Teammates said they again had water bottles and again were told to leave them on the hill and "not touch them."
The team began to run sprints up "punishment hill" because, court documents say, a teammate didn't complete his fundraising requirement.
For the first seven sprints, officers were told, Grant did well.
Then he began to show signs of fatigue.
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Grant Brace grew up on wrestling and weightlifting.
He loved to work hard.
Following his freshman year, his family transferred to Alcoa from a nearby school because of his dad's job.
“I remember the first day they came in here,” Rankin said of the Brace family. “I remember the mom and dad the very first day they came in and toured our school. Just sweet people, good family.”
Brian Gossett remembers all the conversations and texts he had with Grant's mom because of her son's medical condition.
Grant suffered from narcolepsy. He was prescribed Adderall.
“He was also a big-time self-advocate,” Gossett said. “He was somebody that would advocate for himself in all situations.”
Grant's mom would text Gossett to check up on how Grant seemed if it was after a day she knew he didn't sleep well.
“he would work himself until he couldn’t go anymore,” Gossett said, “And then he’d water up and get himself situated and he’d work, work until he couldn’t work anymore.”
Because of his condition, when Grant went to college, the officers were told that Grants parents said he received a medical exemption: that he could have access to water any time he wanted it.
The NAIA is a college-governing body similar to the NCAA, but for small colleges and and universities.
Adderall is a stimulant, which is a substance the NAIA bans unless you have an exemption from a doctor, which Brace had, according to court documents.
The interactions between stimulants and an athlete's training came to the forefront of sports medicine in 2018, when Maryland football player Jordan McNair died from heat.
The investigation into his death revealed McNair took prescription Vyvanse, a stimulant for ADHD.
The investigation revealed the stimulant increased the risk of McNair suffering from exertional heat stroke, something his team medical staff and coaches should have identified as risk factors.
“One of our biggest questions was how did we go from a health child Tuesday morning to an emergency liver transplant Friday morning,” Marty McNair, Jordan’s father, told Local 12 Investigates.
Aaron Himmler has been a collegiate athletic trainer for nine years that has had a couple athletes suffer from heat stroke.
“There is a known link between ADD medication and hyperthermia,” Himmler said. “ It's a stimulant just like caffeine is. And stimulants increase your body temperature, increase your heart rate.”
He said an athletic trainer asks about any prescriptions an athlete may be on before he competes.
“A stimulant is basically like putting a higher-octane fuel in your gas tank,” Himmler said. “As you perform, you perform basically at a higher performance level.
“There can be reasons where it’s beneficial for your heart to be beating faster so you can move oxygen to parts of your body that you need it.
“Tt also can be detrimental if you’re essentially redlining that engine for too long. – basically too long a period of time. Too much gas for too long is not great. And just like your engine, it can overheat and so can your body and so can your heart and your internal organs.”
The police report says Grant was permitted extra water breaks during practice because the Adderall often caused his mouth to be dry.
The report doesn't state whether he received any extra water breaks the day he died.
The following events are all from that report:
As Grant's fatigue from the sprints set in, he sat and laid down.
The coaches became irritated with his performance and "told him to leave the hill and clean out his locker."
Grant left, but returned a couple of minutes later, saying he wanted to prove himself to the coaches and team.
Chief Bird wrote: "Some witnesses describe a lot of verbal abuse by the coaches and even teammates as Grant continued to attempt sprints up the hill."
"Witnesses describe hearing Grant say at (the) time 'Help me. Help me. I can't stand.' and then appearing to be very unsteady on his feet."
Chief Bird went on: "Witnesses describe a short team meeting on the hill after the sprints when Grant was holding on a small tree limb, swaying back and forth, saying, ‘I can't stand.’ Witnesses also describe two other teammates who went down on the hill that day vomiting and showing signs of distress. Those team members were attended to by a trainer."
The report doesn't indicate whether the athletic trainer attended to Grant.
After leaving the hill, the team went to the wrestling room, which is about 100 yards from the hill to cool down and shower.
After the practice, Brace allegedly laid on a wrestling mat in the wrestling room and began to beg for water.
This is what the police report says happened next.
"At one point witnesses state Grant opened a cooler full of ice that was provided by the trainer and began to immerse himself in the ice and began splashing ice on his body."
The report doesn't say whether he tried to ingest any ice.
"Witnesses state at times Grant would say, 'Guys, I need water. Get me some water.' And at one point some witnesses hear Grant state his pupils were twitching and he couldn't see.
"One witness attempted to wrap ice in a towel and place it on Grant when he was stopped by the coach because Grant didn't perform well on the hill."
The law enforcement report says Grant then began to speak gibberish. Then Grant charged a teammate, tackling him to the ground.
"At that point, witnesses describe Grant running out of the gym," Chief Bird wrote.
Officers would later review security footage of Grant as he left the wrestling gym.
The report says: "He ran to a nearby building and attempted to pull open a locked door. When he could not get the door open, he kicked the door (and) ran off out the view of the camera."
"In the video, Grant appeared to be in panic or what I would describe as fight or flight."
Bud Cooper is a national heat expert. His research into why Georgia was ranked No. 1 in heat-related deaths in high school athletes created new policies to protect athletes.
“Usually with heat stroke, individuals have lost consciousness,” Cooper said. “And again you can pick them out. You will start to see them. They will lose their ability to continue an activity. They’ll be lethargic. They’ll have an inability to communicate.”
There are four categories of heat and how it impacts an athlete’s body: heat cramps, heat illness, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
“That’s the granddaddy of them all,” Cooper said. “Heat stroke is where your core temperature elevates above 104 degrees.
“Here it is critical to cool the core body temperature down because in that elevated temperature state, the amount of time that you can survive is limited.”
At a health and safety conference in Illinois, Bud Cooper discussed heat acclimatization, or the period it takes an athlete's body to adjust to increased activity in heat.
Cooper has spent his career researching how environmental conditions impact the risk of an athlete overheating -- what is known as exertional heat illness.
‘What the data shows is that yes, there needs to be a restriction of participation time during acclimatization in order for them to allow their thermoregulatory system to adjust to the environment in which they’re going to be practicing in,” Cooper said.
“Those first 7-10 days is I think where us as a staff is trying to stay really very locked in to what’s going on,” Himmler said about how his staff monitors heat acclimatization at the start of a new season. “Using some of the information that we have, whether it’s the ambient temperature, on-field temperature. Just try to get a holistic view of what is going on”
“You don’t have to have heat exhaustion first and then lapse into heat stroke,” Cooper said. “You could go ‘I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine.’ Boom. Heat stroke.”
*****
Grant wouldn't be seen again for nearly 2 hours
Operator: 9-1-1
Caller: Hey, I have an emergency at the University of the Cumberlands.
Caller: I’m right in front of Grace Crum Rollins. I’ve got a student. He is – we found passed out. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.
Caller: In front of Grace Crum. He’s not moving right now.
The Kentucky Medical Examiner's office ruled that Brace died of exertional heat stroke.
The Whitley County commonwealth attorney said the case is still ongoing.
The Williamsburg Police Department said the case is still an active, open investigation.
Court documents say the wrestling coaches created a toxic culture in the program. A third witness later filed civil litigation against the university after he suffered a brain injury as a result of suffering a concussion during a practice on punishment hill.
The report says "During the interview, investigators were made aware of a similar incident involving one of the assistant coaches who was running a training camp in Indiana when an 8th grader died during practice. We have spoken with that school and confirmed the death, just waiting on details."
Local 12 reached out to the Indiana coroner to confirm those details.
Four months later, Local 12 is still awaiting a response.
The NAIA never did an investigation.
Neither did the Mid-South Conference.
The NAIA and Mid-South Conference do have policies related to heat and humidity.
But they only apply to NAIA or Mid-South Conference specific events, like championships or intra-conference matches.
Eric Ward has been at the helm of the Mid-South Conference for nearly a decade and was previously the athletic director at Georgetown College.
“We practice institutional autonomy as much as we possibly can,” Ward said.
Before Local 12 started recording on camera, Mid-South Conference commissioner Eric Ward said the reason he doesn't like having guidelines or protocols related to the health and safety of the conference athletes is because he doesn't like guidelines with no oversight.
“Medical situations that occur on campuses – we’ve not – in my 20 years around the conference, the conference has never inserted itself,” Ward said.
Local 12 Investigates asked: so who would you say is in charge of protecting the health and safety of the athletes of the conference?
Ward said: “I would say it’s the presidents and the athletic directors and the head athletic trainers at each member institution. It’s their primary responsibility to oversee the health and safety, particularly when it involves practicing, conditioning, training, those kinds of things.”
Operator: Is he breathing?
Caller: No, I don’t think so.
Local 12 requested an interview or comment from the president or athletic director of the University of the Cumberlands. Local 12 is still waiting the school’s response.
*****
The Grace Crum Rollins Center is across the street from the campus wrestling building.
The center is one of three buildings that faces the only fountain on campus.
It was not working at the time and had no water in it.
When Grant was found – two hours after he was last seen – he was just yards from the fountain, clutching the grass.
It appeared he had vomited.
The joints and muscles of his body had already begun to stiffen.
“I’s almost unimaginable to me,” Gossett said. “For him to die alone is the part that – is the part that I just can’t come to grips with that he, he struggled in the last minutes of his life for just somebody to . to help him. That’s the part that I just can’t get over. it’s just unimaginable to me – that– that somebody would just let him die without helping him.”
Grant would have graduated college in May.
His high school wrestling coach remembers being excited about how Grant's life might unfold, about what he would learn at the University of the Cumberlands and how wrestling would continue to teach him resilience.
All that, of course, is gone.
He told us he wonders what would have happened if he had encouraged Grant to not continue wrestling in college.
He figured someday he would wear a coat and tie to Grant's wedding.
Instead, he wore it to be a pallbearer at his funeral.
Grant's college wrestling career could have been a celebration of his tenacity on the mat.
Instead, it ended in a wrongful death lawsuit that's still ongoing.
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In February 2022, the Mid-South Conference North Division Tournament was held in Bowling Green.
The University of the Cumberlands’ wrestling team was crowned conference tournament champions.
Jordan Countryman was named Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year in 2020.
He resigned as University of the Cumberlands head wrestling coach in April 2021.
He is currently the wrestling coach at Saraland City Schools in Mobile County, Alabama.
Saraland City Schools superintendent Aaron Milner released this statement in response to Countryman being named in the wrongful death lawsuit:
"Saraland City Schools prioritizes safety in all endeavors both in and out of the classroom. Every employment decision made in Saraland City Schools is solely based on my recommendation as the superintendent and follows a vetting process that includes criminal background clearance through the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) working in partnership with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA). Recognizing the sensitivity of the claims and respecting those personally involved, I will continue to monitor the Kentucky case and respond as facts pertinent to the operation of Saraland City Schools are communicated by the legal authorities directly connected to the Kentucky lawsuit."
