Maryland high school football player died from heart disease after collapsing on the field, medical examiner says

REISTERSTOWN -- A Franklin High School football player who collapsed on the field in August died from heart disease, the Chief Medical Examiner's Office ruled Wednesday.  

Leslie Noble, 16, experienced a medical emergency during the first practice of the season on August 18.

Baltimore County EMS personnel responded to the school where they found Noble in critical condition. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.  

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"I didn't even know it was Leslie until later when the principal came around and everybody was all upset and emotional and crying and everything," Sharon Johnson, a staff member at Franklin High School, previously told WJZ.  

On Wednesday, the Chief Medical Examiner's Office said Noble's manner of death was natural and the cause was Cardiomegaly with Biventricular Hypertrophy, a heart disease that causes the heart muscles to become thicker, making it harder to pump blood.  

Noble was an admired athlete in his school community. He had been on the varsity football team since his freshman year.  

"I hope that other kids look to him and see that it's okay to be who you are and to be proud of it because I don't think there's a person here who isn't proud of Leslie," a school staff member said.