Hart County mourns loss of Schyler Oldham, 18-year-old senior at Hart County High School

MUNFORDVILLE, Ky. – 18-year-old Schyler Oldham passed away on Thursday, and the Hart County community is coming together as the Raiders took the field against Glasgow.

“Schyler was a young man who came to us this year for football, but he’s always been around the school. He cheered, and a lot of my football players cheered, so I got to know Schyler through that… and then I’m real close with the cheerleading coach, we’re friends and stuff… and she always talked about this guy Schyler, this young man Schyler Oldham,” Hart County football coach Chad Griffin says.

Schyler was a senior at Hart County High School, and was on both the football team and co-ed cheerleading squad.

Coach Griffin met Schyler when he showed interest in trying out for the team, even while he was still cheering.

“My son at the end of last year after cheer season was over, he said ‘Dad, I think Schyler’s gonna play football’… and so Midnight Madness came and Schyler was there and he said ‘Coach, I want to play…’ and I said that’s fine… we talked about it, I said ‘you’re going to be a senior… and he said ‘I know, but I want to be part of it, I think I can do it and I want to be part of it.’ I said I had no problem with that,” Coach Griffin says.

Once Schyler made the team, Coach Griffin saw the work he was putting in on the field, but also in the locker room with his teammates.

“It was just amazing to watch him show up every day and be a great teammate and take kids in… He would take kids and take them home. He got other guys involved in cheer. He just had this special soul that’s hard to explain. He had a soul that he wanted to help… and that’s the thing that… when you hear people talk about the school and the stuff just being talked about and laughed about and people crying about was his smile and his willing to… He wanted to fix what was broken, and he didn’t… the big thing that really was Schyler: he didn’t want to let anybody down,” Coach Griffin says.

After the passing of Coach Jason Gedda in 2024, the Raiders know about resilience, and their goal for the rest of the season is playing for Schyler.

“What I saw last night was a group of kids who could have easily used an excuse and we didn’t… and we went out there and they went out there and had a great walkthrough. They had a great team meal, and it was a great devotional, and it was just… you can see the tight-knit family that we are not just as a football team, not as a program, but as a community. It’s just a testimony of God puts you in the right place, and I know that he’s got me in the right place and… to watch that happen last night and unfold and watch our kids because the one thing people kept asking ‘Coach, what do we do next?’ and I don’t have those answers… the only thing I know how to do is what we do. The one thing I do know is our community and our kids are strong, and they’ll come together and pull through this,” Coach Griffin says.

News 40 sends our thoughts to the family, friends and community of Schyler Oldham.