Two years ago tonight, in front of a capacity crowd just before one of Springboro’s biggest football games ever, there was a moment that had nothing to do with Xs and Os or winning and losing.
Instead, it was about the beauty of life and the suddenness of death, and the appreciation we should have at all points in between.
Two teams and two communities came together as one body and one common thought – to remember a player whose life ended far too early.
Shaun Frechette was only 17 when he was killed in a single-car accident just two days before. He had been a significant part of the Panther preparation against Lakota East, Springboro’s opponent in the first round of the Division I playoffs that night.
Yet now he would not be in uniform. Rather, he would be memorialized in a funeral service at the Springboro High School auditorium two days later. His passing was a tragedy to Shaun’s family, his classmates and to his team.
Amid the shock and sadness, there was a call for perspective.
Shawn Acrey, who at the time was a pastor in Springboro, led both teams in a poignant moment that belied the roughness and toughness of football. I was standing at midfield, hat in hand, tears in my eyes, not sure I was really witnessing such a scene. At the risk of being disrespectful, I took this photograph. It was a moment I wanted to capture on film.
In it, you see Pastor Shawn praying openly for Player Shaun, and also offering a lesson to those in front of him. Life is a gift. Love is the reward. Hug those who mean the world to you, because you never know when they will leave this life for the next one.
Be safe. Live in peace. A life devoted to a purpose of loving people – whether as a nurse, a teacher, a teammate or a coach or whatever – is a life best lived.
Awesome words.
Moments earlier, in the locker room just before Springboro took the field, Panther head coach Ryan Wilhite invited his team to not just play the game FOR their fallen teammate, but instead play it WITH him.
Shaun was still with them, if not in body, then in spirit. So hang on to his memory, Coach Wilhite said, for death in this life is only a birth in another. I love it when successful coaches have proper morals and values that transcend athletic achievement.
I THOUGHT OF THIS picture tonight in part because it is the two-year anniversary since it happened, and coincidentally because Springboro will play Lakota East once again this Saturday night in the first round of the Division I playoffs.
But I also thought of this photo because of a similar tragedy a couple of months ago, just before the University of Cincinnati played Ohio State in a football game. If you’ll remember, UC went into that game having suffered a terrible loss that week when a player had been killed while riding a motorcycle on his way to practice.
That player was Chamoda Kennedy-Palmore, a running back.
Chamoda was a UC redshirt freshman who graduated from Lakota East two years ago. He was on the field the night this photograph was taken. Not five minutes after this prayer ended, he ran 80 yards for a ThunderHawk touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. Poof. He made a cut and was gone, just like that.
The same thing happened just before the OSU game, when another driver pulled in front of him.
Cherish your loved ones. Give a hug, make a call, extend a hand, and say the words. We just never know when they will no longer be there.
That’s the perspective we all need.
Let me close with this thought. As this week unfolds, you can bet the Springboro football team will work hard and prepare thoroughly for its return match-up against Lakota East. After all, the Panthers have won 28 of their last 30 regular season games. There’s a commitment to excellence in the program, and it shows.
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| Shawn Acrey, Chris Harwood, Jack Schaaf |
On game night, there will be a voluntary pre-game prayer in the Panther locker room for those who choose to participate, and it will emphasize all things that are really important.
It will be about health and safety for the players on both teams, and about the love and appreciation for community, classmates and families who are there to support them. It will be about loving life and enjoying the moment they have been given.
It will be about everything but winning a football game.
SEE, GOD DOES NOT care who wins ball games, and will redeem whatever happens in elections and business deals and court cases. In life, as in football, it’s not all about winning.
It’s about perspective, and recognizing how light overcomes darkness, in all situations.
So I don’t know what the scoreboard will say come 10 o’clock Saturday evening, when these two teams walk off the field battered and bruised, but I already believe one thing.
If that’s the way the Panthers or any other team can look at football, they’re already winners.