A 26-year-old soldier from Bellevue has died in the war in Iraq.

Administrators at Northgate High School yesterday identified him as Thomas Vandling.

He graduated in 1998 from Northgate, where he was a solid student and a center and defensive end on the football team.

"This is a tough day. I'm saddened," said Rich Hurley, who was head football coach at Northgate during Mr. Vandling's four years there.

Coach Hurley said he learned of Mr. Vandling's death on New Year's Day. He said Jim Vandling, a brother of the fallen soldier, later sought him out to tell him Tom had been killed in a roadside explosion.

The Vandling family declined to comment yesterday. A brother who answered the door said nobody was ready to speak publicly.

The Department of Defense had not yet issued a report on the circumstances of Mr. Vandling's death or a listing of his rank or unit.

Coach Hurley remembered Mr. Vandling as a smallish lineman with a big heart.

"He was about 5-9 and 170 pounds," Coach Hurley said. "He always practiced hard and he never got depressed. When he got a chance to play, he shined. He answered the call."

Mr. Vandling was a member of Northgate's 1995 team that won the Ohio Valley Conference championship. A substitute that season, Mr. Vandling was a regular on the 1996 and '97 teams, Coach Hurley said.

One of Mr. Vandling's teammates was Kris Ryan, a running back who went on to a stellar collegiate career at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Ryan, 27, now a teacher in suburban Philadelphia, said Mr. Vandling was a model teammate.

"He was one of those guys who do anything for you," Mr. Ryan said. "He wasn't the biggest kid. He wasn't the toughest kid or the fastest. But he had a lot of desire, and he really wanted to be part of the team. He loved to compete."

Coach Hurley said he believed Mr. Vandling was in his second tour in the Army.