CLYDE -- A former star of Clifton-Clyde High School's eight-man football team died Wednesday from injuries he suffered when a half-ton steel plate fell on him at a construction site in Oklahoma.

Biery said he had been working in Pryor with Hoesli the week before but had returned to Kansas this week.

"He was a good friend to many of us," Biery said. "Shane always seemed to put a smile on our faces. He was the type of kid you couldn't stay mad at very long."

Biery said Hoesli was a "very good welder," who had been trained at Tulsa Welding School.

According to the Pryor Daily Times, a 911 call was made to the Pryor Police Department at 6:47 a.m. Tuesday.

Hoesli and two other men had been working on part of the water tower stem when one of the large curved sheets of steel being used to form the tower's base shifted and fell on him, Biery said.

Hoesli died of his injuries the following day at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa.

Biery said he and Hoesli roomed together when they worked on the road. They traveled frequently, he said.

They recently celebrated their 21st birthdays together, he said. Hoesli turned 21 on March 28, and they spent the evening in Aggieville, Biery said.

When they were younger, they both owned dirt bikes, and, more recently, they had both purchased motorcycles, Biery said.

"He was sort of a daredevil," Biery said. "He wasn't afraid to go fast and try new things."

Loss for football family

Both men played sports in high school at Clifton-Clyde. Hoesli was a talented athlete and played football, basketball, baseball and track. He was a pole vaulter at Cloud County Community College.

Clifton-Clyde Head Football Coach Russ Steinbrock said Hoesli was part of a special group of players who launched the team's current success. Hoesli was the "spinnerback" on the team's single-wing offense.

"This really feels like a loss to our football family," Steinbrock said. He said the first morning practice next week will be canceled so members of the team can attend Hoesli's funeral service, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Clyde.

"He didn't really enjoy practice -- he got bored with the everyday grind," Steinbrock said. "But Friday night you could always count on him to show up ready to play. He was always living for the game."

Hoesli was one of two Clifton-Clyde players selected to play in the Eight-man All-Star Game after his season year.

Steinbrock, who was chosen as coach, got to coach his former player one last time after his 2007 high school graduation.

"He was very athletic," he said. "He was really a gamer."