A 16-year-old Franklin High School football player who experienced a medical emergency on the field in August died of a heart disease, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Wednesday.

Players were running drills for the first day of practice when Leslie Noble collapsed. Temperatures were in the mid-70s that morning. Noble, who joined the varsity squad as a freshman, started 11 games for Franklin High in the 2023 season, accounting for 10 tackles and one sack.

The medical examiner determined the cause of death was cardiomegaly with biventricular hypertrophy, a condition in which the heart muscle is thicker, making it harder for it to pump blood.

More than 200 people held a vigil to honor Noble at the school’s Reisterstown campus in the days after his death, holding red, silver and black star-shaped balloons and white candles. His family members described Noble as a “big ol’ teddy bear.”

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“One thing about Leslie, he was not a downer. He was one that was really excited,” Elder Gregory Johnson, a cousin of Noble, said at the vigil. “And so, while we are here in his remembrance, we know he has left such a great legacy in his life of just 16 years.”

This story will be updated.