Caden Nowicki, a 17-year-old senior and football player at Ponder High School, died on January 29, 2026, three days after a sledding accident on an icy road in Denton County, Texas. He had been riding in a kayak that was roped to the back of an all-terrain vehicle and used as a sled when it veered off the pavement and threw him into a fence.
He was one of three North Texas teenagers killed that week in crashes that involved sleds being towed behind vehicles.
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How the crash happened
The accident happened on the afternoon of Monday, January 26, 2026, on Amyx Hill Road in Ponder, a rural town in Denton County about 50 miles northwest of Dallas. A winter storm had left the roads under ice. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Caden was inside a kayak being towed behind an ATV when the kayak left the road. He was thrown out and struck a fence.
DPS said the ATV was driven by 22-year-old Jackson Long of Yukon, Oklahoma, and that an 18-year-old passenger was also on the vehicle. Neither of them was injured. Caden was flown to the intensive care unit at Medical City Denton, where he stayed until he died that Thursday.
The teenager behind number 44
Caden Lake Nowicki was born April 1, 2008, in Lewisville. He was a senior at Ponder High and played inside linebacker for the Lions, wearing number 44. Teammates and coaches knew him as Wicki.
Off the field he cooked, fished, and built things out of wood, and he followed the Detroit Lions and Michigan State. His obituary described someone who had a habit of putting other people ahead of himself.
He is survived by his parents, Ryan and Brandi Nowicki, and his younger brothers, Landon and Ashton. His family has said Caden was an organ donor and that other people were able to live because of it.
How Ponder responded
His coach announced the death on social media before it reached local news. Marcus Schulz, the athletic director and head football coach at Ponder ISD, had been posting updates since the day of the crash. “With heavy hearts our #44 Caden Nowicki crossed through the gates into our heavenly Fathers arms today,” he wrote, ending with, “Rest Easy & Fly High #44 We Love You Wicki.”
Superintendent James Hill sent a letter to families asking them to keep the Nowickis in their prayers and to give the family privacy. The school collected food gift cards. A GoFundMe organized by a family friend, Tara Allred, brought in about $9,000 by the evening Caden died, passed $50,000 the next morning, and went above $70,000 by that night.
The Ponder chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes held a vigil at First Baptist Church Ponder on Friday, January 30. A visitation took place on February 8, followed by a Celebration of Life service the next morning at Fellowship of the Parks in Northlake.
A week of fatal sledding crashes in North Texas
Caden’s death was part of a string of deadly sledding crashes across North Texas that week. On Sunday, January 25, the day before he was hurt, a teenager driving a Jeep Wrangler in Frisco was towing a sled when it hit a curb and struck a tree. Elizabeth Angle, 16, died at the scene. Her friend Grace Brito, also 16 and a student at Wakeland High School, died from her injuries on January 27, while Caden was still in intensive care.
There was no connection between the two crashes. The teenagers lived in different towns and went to different schools. What linked them was a snowstorm in a part of the country that almost never sees one.
In states where hard winters come every year, kids usually learn early, often from watching someone older get hurt, why you do not tie a sled to a moving vehicle. North Texas does not get enough of those winters for that lesson to become second nature. When heavy snow does arrive, a new group of teenagers tends to find the same dangerous version of the fun on their own.
Where the investigation stands
Nearly five months later, the official account has not changed much. The Texas Department of Public Safety has said its investigation is still open and has not announced charges against the ATV driver. No public update has closed the case since early February.
No scholarship or jersey retirement has been announced, and no lawsuit has been filed. The football season was already over when he died, with the Lions having finished his senior year at 5 and 4.
There are still no official answers about what happened on that road. The one thing his family has chosen to share is that Caden was an organ donor, and that other people are alive because of him.
