Mount Carmel Man Dies in Head-on Crash with T-102 Football Announcing Crew

A Mount Carmel man died and 3 Schuylkill County residents were injured in a head-on vehicle crash Friday afternoon in Schuylkill County.

According to State Police in Schuylkill Haven, Ryan Little, 24, of Mount Carmel, was traveling east on Route 901 in Barry Township shortly before 6 p.m. Friday.

At the same time, a van driven by Charles Hepler, 47, was traveling west on Route 901.

Hepler was driving a van owned by Pottsville radio station T-102/A-106 and he, along with two passengers, were on their way to broadcast a football game in Mount Carmel later in the evening.

Mount Carmel Man Dies in Route 901 Crash in Schuylkill County

Police suspect that Little was either driving too fast or the road conditions weren’t the best and he lost control of his Hyundai Elantra. Little’s vehicle crossed the yellow lines of Route 901 and crashed head-on into Hepler’s van.

The Republican-Herald newspaper reports Hepler was driving a van owned by the local radio station, where he’s employed. He and his two passengers were on their way to a football game in Mount Carmel to broadcast it for the station.

Hepler, of Frackville, also serves as North Schuylkill school board president and has been in office since 2011.

Little was partially ejected from his vehicle’s passenger side front door and died at the scene as a result of the injuries he sustained in the crash.

Hepler sustained injuries in the crash, too, along with his two passengers:

• Joseph Shemansik, 43, of Mahanoy City
• Charles Kutz, 53, of Pottsville

Kutz is a former local football coach.

The three-man radio crew was taken to Geisinger Hospital in Danville for treatment of their injuries.