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according to the opening of this article, heat related deaths were just as prevalent in the past as they are now.

According to a news release from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in 2006, heat related deaths among football players reached their highest total since 1972.

Seven football players died from heat stroke in 1972, compared to five football players dying from heat stroke in 2006. In addition to the five football players who died from heat stroke, seven more football players died from "heart-related deaths that may or may not have been related to heat or exertion."

The difference is that such stories today make national news a lot quicker. Also, the current media loves to dramatize everything possible in order to try to gain viewership. I'm not making light of a football player dying or saying that it isn't tragic or dramatic. However, the manner in which news is presented today is far different than even ten years ago, much less 30 ago or more. Add on top of that the ease of news spreading at warp speed due to the internet as well and it seems that it happens much more than it used to.

I was doing a little more research into the topic after posting, and most of the facts and figures vary pretty widely from story to story. I saw anywhere from 19 to 31 deaths from 95-06 that are claimed as heat related deaths. One interesting fact that all the stories agreed on (at least the ones I read) was that the problem was virtually non-existent in the 1980ish to 1994-95 time frame. Also, all the stories seemed to agree that it was a pretty widespread problem in the 60's & 70's.

I'm going to hazard a guess that most posters here that played football in high school played in the 1980ish to 1994-95 time frame. Most posters here talk about how tough it was (few breaks, little to no water, etc.), but this is the time frame where the problem was virtually non-existent. I find that kind of interesting.