TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Cierra Brumback was hanging out with her father while he cleaned his gun when the weapon fired unexpectedly, nearly killing the 10-year-old.

Now a junior at Emporia State University, Brumback told her story to 36 of the best high school football players in Kansas this past week as they prepared to compete in the 2020 Kansas Shrine Bowl in Topeka.

Normally, participants in the annual charity all-star game make a trip to a local hospital to visit children and hear their stories. But the in-person hospital visits were shelved this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Kan...