Football team photographer dies after accident during game

By Praveena Somasundaram
Updated September 8, 2023 at 5:22 p.m. EDT | Published September 8, 2023 at 1:08 a.m. EDT



Linda Gregory photographed the Wichita Northwest High School football program for years. After an accident at a game Monday night, she was put on life support and died days later. (Mel Gregory)

Linda Gregory called the students in Wichita Northwest High School’s football program “her players.”

The 69-year-old photographer had been on the sidelines for years with her camera, capturing moments of the players in action and snapping shots of fans in the stands. If there was a Grizzlies football game, the Northwest High community in Wichita knew Gregory and her husband, both avid photographers, would be there, standing beside the field with their cameras in hand.

She was doing that Monday night for the school’s freshman and junior varsity football teams at Bishop Carroll Catholic High School when some players suddenly ran into her during the second game. Gregory fell backward, hitting her head on the concrete between the field and the track around it, Northwest High head football coach Steve Martin said.

Gregory was put on life support after the accident but was taken off of it and died on Friday afternoon, according to a close friend. Gregory’s family planned to donate her organs, one of her final wishes.

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By Praveena Somasundaram
Praveena Somasundaram is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix desk. She joined The Post as an intern on the General Assignment desk and has previously reported at the Dallas Morning News and the Charlotte Observer. Twitter https://twitter.com/praveenavsoma