The Real WV (Charleston, WV)
March 6, 2025
Bill would require soft-shell helmet coverings (Guardian Caps) during football practice
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Cohen Craddock Student Safety Act made its way out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, with a few changes, and is now on its way to the Senate Finance Committee for further consideration.
Senate Bill 585, the Cohen Craddock Student Safety Act, was introduced in the West Virginia Senate on February 24 by lead sponsor Senator Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha. The bill would require student athletes “participating in a school organized football practice” to use soft-shell helmet coverings (Guardian Caps) while wearing a football helmet.
In addition, the Act also establishes a nine-member Student Athlete Safety Advisory Committee and the Cohen Craddock Memorial Grant Program, which would fund “all or some of the costs associated” with the purchase of soft-shell helmet coverings.
The Act is named after Cohen Craddock, an eighth-grader at Madison Middle School in Boone County, who passed away on August 24, 2024.
According to information from Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, Craddock was wearing a helmet at football practice, however, during a tackle, he was hit in the head and lost consciousness. He was taken to a local hospital where he passed away. He was only 13-years-old. The helmet he was wearing was 10-years-old.
Cohen’s father, Ryan Craddock, was the first person to testify before Judiciary Committee members on the importance of Guardian Caps.
“When this first happened to Cohen, we were devastated,” Craddock said. “Me and Cohen’s mother lost the most precious thing you could possibly lose – a child.”
After Cohen’s death, Craddock explained that he began to think about, and research, things that may have saved his son’s life.
“I was unaware that the Guardian Caps were even a thing,” Craddock continued, adding that he found out about them while using his phone for research. “Lo and behold, there is stuff out there for these kids, but our kids didn’t have them. You can imagine my frustration when I figured out that the NFL and the colleges were mandating these. We are taking care of grown professional athletes, and college people, as opposed to taking care of our children in the developmental stages of their brain growth.”
Craddock said he started making phone calls, and before long, Boone Memorial Hospital, as well as individuals, donated money to purchase about 750 soft-shell helmet coverings for other student athletes in the area.
“This is an ongoing process,” Craddock said, noting that if the bill were to pass it would help not only West Virginia’s student athletes, but “set a standard for the nation to follow.”
Craddock said that it’s his goal to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“My son ain’t the only one,” Craddock said. “There’s a boy in Selma, Alabama, who died the same day. This has been happening down through the years.”
“I can’t believe we have not done something to date to stop this, or at least eliminate it as much as we can,” Craddock continued. “It is mind-blowing that this has been taking place this many years and nothing has been done.”
Following Craddock’s testimony, Dr. Javier Cardenas, director of the NeuroPerformance Center in the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at WVU Medicine, provided testimony on the effectiveness of soft-shell helmet covers.
According to Cardenas, the original use of the soft-shell helmet add-on was not to prevent concussions. Instead, they were intended to be used by linemen who had frequent head contact to “decrease the intensity of those head impacts.”
“We were surprised after that first pre-season where we saw a 50% reduction in concussions,” Cardenas noted. “We were so surprised that we told ourselves and we told the community, ‘Do not expect this in subsequent seasons. It is likely an anomaly.’”
Yet, he said that each season there was a “continued reduction in concussions.”
Cardenas said that helmets performed better when they had the soft-shell add-on, although some helmets did perform better than others.
Based on his expertise, Cardenas advocated for the bill’s passage.
Also present to testify before the committee was WVSSAC Executive Director David Price.
“We are not opposed to Senate Bill 585,” Price said. “We as an organization are for anything that will provide the safest playing environment and reduce the risk of injury for our student athletes in West Virginia.”
Price said that the WVSSAC has made safety adjustments over the years, including limiting practices to 30 minutes per session and only allowing up to 90 minutes a week for contact.
Price said that rules adjustments have also been made, including coaches education along with the establishment of a concussion policy.
“Every year our coaches are required to take a concussion training,” Price said, adding that due to the high turnover of coaches in West Virginia, this yearly training becomes “more and more important.”
Lastly, Price noted that he is not aware of any WVSSAC rules that would prevent the use of Guardian Caps, unless they would void a helmet’s warranty.
Ray Harrell Jr., general counsel and chief external affairs officer at Boone Memorial Health (BMH), provided testimony before the committee as well.
Harrell explained that Cohen’s parents launched the “Caps for Cohen” initiative after their son’s passing.
“Their advocacy has received not just statewide attention, but national attention, raising tens of thousands of dollars in bringing awareness to this issue,” Harrell said. “And, as you all know, like most of West Virginia, the communities in the coalfields are very close-knit, and Cohen’s family is deeply connected to BMH.”
The BMH Foundation purchased 600 Guardian Caps for middle and high school football players in Boone, Lincoln and Logan counties, Harrell said, adding that he doesn’t think it would be difficult to raise money for the Cohen Craddock Memorial Grant Program, as established in SB 585.
“If this bill is signed into law, Boone Memorial Health will be among the first contributors to the grant program,” Harrell said.
The bill describes the grant program as being administered by the West Virginia Department of Education. Schools and county boards of education will be able to apply for grant funding for the purchase of soft-shell helmet coverings, but grants would be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
After concerns about creating a soft-shell helmet covering mandate, along with the possibility that there would not be enough funds available for schools to purchase the required equipment, an amendment to the bill was made by Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke. The amendment states that if funds are unavailable, the mandate would become permissive until funding is available once again.
After the amendment’s passage, the bill was moved to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration. Committee Chair Stuart asked that the bill bypass the finance committee because there is no fiscal note attached.