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Punters inhabit an isolated but exclusive niche in the football world, and the community is close-knit, says Georgia native Richie Leone of the B.C. Lions.

Finding commonality in the terror of a blocked punt or being the last defender between a returner and the end zone, the American professional and collegiate punting community shared in a much more profound tragedy Sunday when it learned of the deaths of Nebraska Cornhuskers punter Sam Foltz and former Michigan State punter Mike Sadler.

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Both died in a single-car crash Saturday evening while returning from a punting clinic in Wisconsin. LSU kicker Colby Delahoussaye was also injured in the crash, about 48 kilometres west of Milwaukee.

According to a police report, the 24-year-old Sadler, whom Leone has known since his senior year in high school, was at the wheel at the time of the accident and lost control on wet pavement. Sadler and Leone have been students and instructors at many of the same punting camps, such as the one run Saturday by punting guru Jamie Kohl in Waukesha County, Wis.