Sooner_Bob
3/4/2011, 12:56 PM
This is one of the saddest things I've heard in a while (http://www.foxsportsdetroit.com/03/04/11/Keatings-Corner-Tragedy-strikes-Fennvill/landing.html?blockID=432944&feedID=3701)
Just.
That.
Fast.
One minute a star player was hitting the game-winning shot to lift his team to its 20th consecutive victory in a storybook season, the next minute the story was taking a horrifically sad turn.
The star had collapsed and was receiving CPR as the entire gym stood in complete disbelief. They watched as the ambulance pulled away from the high school, and the only sound was someone praying over a loud speaker in the parking lot. The star had passed away already.
Wes Leonard's greatest moment was his last moment. The tragedy is that Wes Leonard was only 16 years old.
Michigan should be wrapping all of its mitten around a town that's sobbing, shaking, questioning, mourning today.
The idyllic-sounding Fennville, Mich., is so small that its location is given as being seven miles southeast of Saugatuck, just a slightly larger map speck. It's justthisside of Lake Michigan.
I've been in that gym. I've met these people. They are warm, hard-working and down-to-earth, and everybody knows everybody's business. In a small town, that's a good thing.
In Fennville -- and places like it all over the state -- they're aware of what the Red Wings, Tigers and Pistons are doing. But their teams are their teams.
The high schools are an enormous sense of community pride, and today Fennville -- along with anyone anywhere who has a heart -- is just stunned. Because Wes Leonard's heart just stopped.
The greatest athlete Fennville had ever seen was the legendary Richie Jordan, a three-sport star in the mid-1960s who ended up playing some professional baseball.
Leonard was Fennville's Second Coming.
He was the star quarterback who threw seven touchdown passes in a game in October, leading Fennville into the second round of the state playoffs. He was also the star on the school's undefeated basketball team, which was ranked No. 6 in the state.
You'd think Fennville would get a pass on further tragedy. Nathaniel Hernandez, a freshman wrestler, suffered a seizure at home and died in January 2010 after competing in a match.
The heavens must have something in store for Fennville. The testing process is almost unfair.
Leonard had been battling a flu bug in the last week, but in his final Facebook posting, the night before he died, he said, "Got a good long shower... ready for bed and game tomorrow!!!!!!"
Who celebrates a shower?
By all accounts, this was an extraordinary kid. The superintendent described him as "the quintessential All-American kid who was a joy to be around." His coach marveled that Wes "saw the bigger picture."
Today, tragically, the picture does not include him. And Fennville mourns.
Small towns come together. They opened the United Methodist Church in Fennville last night just so people had a chance to come and talk and pray.
A father stopped into the high school office this morning to relate that his son wouldn't be attending classes today, that his kid just couldn't handle the loss of his friend.
The basketball team's playoff run is to start next week. The team will play on because they must. They'll play through tears. What should be the best time of their young lives just became their worst.
A last-second shot to clinch an undefeated season and Wes Leonard was hoisted by his teammates into the air. From so high to so low in but a whisker of time.
There is a reminder in that for all of us.
But life lessons should only happen when there is some life already lived.
Just.
That.
Fast.
One minute a star player was hitting the game-winning shot to lift his team to its 20th consecutive victory in a storybook season, the next minute the story was taking a horrifically sad turn.
The star had collapsed and was receiving CPR as the entire gym stood in complete disbelief. They watched as the ambulance pulled away from the high school, and the only sound was someone praying over a loud speaker in the parking lot. The star had passed away already.
Wes Leonard's greatest moment was his last moment. The tragedy is that Wes Leonard was only 16 years old.
Michigan should be wrapping all of its mitten around a town that's sobbing, shaking, questioning, mourning today.
The idyllic-sounding Fennville, Mich., is so small that its location is given as being seven miles southeast of Saugatuck, just a slightly larger map speck. It's justthisside of Lake Michigan.
I've been in that gym. I've met these people. They are warm, hard-working and down-to-earth, and everybody knows everybody's business. In a small town, that's a good thing.
In Fennville -- and places like it all over the state -- they're aware of what the Red Wings, Tigers and Pistons are doing. But their teams are their teams.
The high schools are an enormous sense of community pride, and today Fennville -- along with anyone anywhere who has a heart -- is just stunned. Because Wes Leonard's heart just stopped.
The greatest athlete Fennville had ever seen was the legendary Richie Jordan, a three-sport star in the mid-1960s who ended up playing some professional baseball.
Leonard was Fennville's Second Coming.
He was the star quarterback who threw seven touchdown passes in a game in October, leading Fennville into the second round of the state playoffs. He was also the star on the school's undefeated basketball team, which was ranked No. 6 in the state.
You'd think Fennville would get a pass on further tragedy. Nathaniel Hernandez, a freshman wrestler, suffered a seizure at home and died in January 2010 after competing in a match.
The heavens must have something in store for Fennville. The testing process is almost unfair.
Leonard had been battling a flu bug in the last week, but in his final Facebook posting, the night before he died, he said, "Got a good long shower... ready for bed and game tomorrow!!!!!!"
Who celebrates a shower?
By all accounts, this was an extraordinary kid. The superintendent described him as "the quintessential All-American kid who was a joy to be around." His coach marveled that Wes "saw the bigger picture."
Today, tragically, the picture does not include him. And Fennville mourns.
Small towns come together. They opened the United Methodist Church in Fennville last night just so people had a chance to come and talk and pray.
A father stopped into the high school office this morning to relate that his son wouldn't be attending classes today, that his kid just couldn't handle the loss of his friend.
The basketball team's playoff run is to start next week. The team will play on because they must. They'll play through tears. What should be the best time of their young lives just became their worst.
A last-second shot to clinch an undefeated season and Wes Leonard was hoisted by his teammates into the air. From so high to so low in but a whisker of time.
There is a reminder in that for all of us.
But life lessons should only happen when there is some life already lived.