The loss of Adam Massman turned a football injury into something far bigger than a game story. By Saturday, the Alma Center-Humbird-Merrillan School District had confirmed that the 17-year-old Lincoln High School senior and football player had died after suffering an injury during Thursday night’s football game, leaving a school community to process grief that now stretches well beyond the field.
Massman was preparing to begin his senior year this week, a detail that makes the timing even more difficult for students, staff and families across Lincoln schools. The district said the impact reaches many parts of the community because of Massman’s involvement in school and the way his family is connected across Lincoln and throughout Jackson County.
Counseling support begins Monday
On Saturday, the high school building was opened to students, parents and friends, with counselors made available as the district responded to the news. Additional counseling support is scheduled to begin at Lincoln Jr./Sr. High School at noon on Monday, Aug. 24, and it will continue on Tuesday as students return to school.
That support plan is a practical response to an emotional crisis, but it also reflects how widely this loss will be felt. The district did not describe Massman only as a student-athlete. It described a person whose presence touched school life in multiple ways and whose family ties run through Lincoln schools.
Megan Steussel remembered Massman as “a friend, a fierce competitor, and someone who followed his convictions and his passions,” a description that captures both the student and the athlete the community lost. Her message to families was simpler and more urgent: tell your kids you love them, and tell the friends around them that they matter too.
Drew Semingson also pointed to the breadth of the loss, saying, “This loss touches our Lincoln family in many ways,” and that is the reality the district now faces. The immediate concern is support, but the larger challenge is helping a school system absorb grief after a tragedy that began on a Thursday night and changed everything by Saturday.
For Alma Center football, the result of that night is no longer measured in points or possessions. It is measured in absence, in the counseling rooms that will open Monday, and in the long process of helping a community move forward while remembering Adam Massman.
