I wanted to share this story that I read on Sacbee.com today. It really brought a heavy sadness upon me that such a young, sweet, promising kid could have his life taken so suddenly and unexpectedly. I felt I wanted to share this story with others as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
Chris Marshall
Elk Grove High basketball player collapses, dies
By Jocelyn Wiener -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, March 5, 2005
No one can believe that Chris Marshall didn't get up.
He was so determined, they say. He'd overcome so much.
The 18-year-old captain of Elk Grove High School's varsity basketball team died Friday after collapsing in his physical education class.
It was raining that morning, so class was being held in the small gym. Marshall was playing well, classmates say, hitting his shots. He ran down the court. Accounts vary as to whether he was chasing the ball or making a layup. He fell. His classmates gathered in a circle around him.
"Chris, get up," they cried. "Chris!"
It was just after 10:30 a.m.
Some started crying. One student saw Marshall try to push himself up, then fall back to the ground. The P.E. teachers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The ambulance arrived less than three minutes after the call came in. They rushed Marshall to nearby Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Sacramento County coroner's office says the cause of death won't be known for several weeks.
Charlie Zamora, a junior and a friend of Marshall's, said he rushed outside when he heard the news and saw Marshall wheeled into the ambulance. Later, he said, he prayed in the locker room with Marshall's friends.
Around 1 p.m., Elk Grove High's principal, Cathy Guy, made the announcement over the loudspeaker. She's been a principal for four years. She's never had to do that kind of thing.
The campus fell silent.
Some kids walked out of class, and gathered, sobbing in the cafeteria. Some spoke with counselors. Some prayed. Some tried their best, in silence, to make sense of it all.
But no one at Elk Grove High School understands how this could have happened to Marshall. He was the boy who was nice to everyone.
Isaiah Frazier met Marshall during the first week of school. Frazier, a freshman, was being chased by some seniors on "Freshman Friday." His backpack fell off and its contents spilled. Marshall, a senior, stopped to help him.
"He always made me feel like I was welcome at the school," Frazier said.
Kiari Stewart, a ninth-grader, said Marshall helped her find her way to class when she started at Elk Grove High. He went out of his way to show her around.
"I was just lost looking," she said. "He was real nice."
Marshall had four brothers, a mom and a dad, said Dan Goldman, coach of Elk Grove High's varsity basketball team. His friends say he was very devoted to his family. He worked at Best Buy to help with the bills, they say. Though he didn't have as much money as some of his classmates, he never complained.
Last fall, at dinner before the homecoming dance, Marshall's table came up $10 short on the bill. He threw in an extra $20 and said, "Let's go."
"Like it was nothing," his teammate and close friend Willie Pinkerton remembered. "He gave everything."
Marshall took Advanced Placement English and statistics just because he liked the challenge, Pinkerton said. He never missed class. He earned a 4.0 grade point average.
He danced his "happy dance" whenever anything happened that made him feel happy. He danced it often - even for orange soda. He had special handshakes with all of his many friends, Pinkerton said.
Pinkerton knew Marshall since second grade. Marshall was a basketball point guard even back then, Pinkerton said. He stayed in that position in high school.
Marshall tore ligaments in both knees and missed his junior season in basketball. But he struggled through the pain and came back - as captain. He was always captain, Goldman said.
If Goldman needed someone to dive on a loose ball, Marshall was the first guy to hit the floor.
On Friday afternoon, as school let out, an eerie silence cloaked the rain-soaked campus. Students whispered into cell phones: "This can't be true at all." A scheduled rally was canceled. So was the baseball game. Plans for a memorial service were under way.
Goldman said there will be a stone for Marshall in the school's memorial garden. He said the basketball team will start giving a Chris Marshall award - for outstanding human beings.
A dozen or so boys played pickup basketball on the blacktop outside the gym where Marshall collapsed. The afternoon's silence was punctuated by the thuds of balls being dribbled and shot. A few boys stood quietly on the sidelines, grappling with Marshall's death.
"If it happened to him, it could happen to any of us," said sophomore Brandon Worthy.
"People were calling his name, people were crying and telling him to get up," sophomore Sam Nunez said, remembering the moment Marshall fell.
Under a sudden burst of sunshine, puddles of morning rain had begun to evaporate from the cracked asphalt. Nunez gazed absently at the ball hurrying down the court. "He didn't get up," he said.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/12512301p-13367769c.html
[/font]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
Chris Marshall
Elk Grove High basketball player collapses, dies
By Jocelyn Wiener -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, March 5, 2005
No one can believe that Chris Marshall didn't get up.
He was so determined, they say. He'd overcome so much.
The 18-year-old captain of Elk Grove High School's varsity basketball team died Friday after collapsing in his physical education class.
It was raining that morning, so class was being held in the small gym. Marshall was playing well, classmates say, hitting his shots. He ran down the court. Accounts vary as to whether he was chasing the ball or making a layup. He fell. His classmates gathered in a circle around him.
"Chris, get up," they cried. "Chris!"
It was just after 10:30 a.m.
Some started crying. One student saw Marshall try to push himself up, then fall back to the ground. The P.E. teachers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The ambulance arrived less than three minutes after the call came in. They rushed Marshall to nearby Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Sacramento County coroner's office says the cause of death won't be known for several weeks.
Charlie Zamora, a junior and a friend of Marshall's, said he rushed outside when he heard the news and saw Marshall wheeled into the ambulance. Later, he said, he prayed in the locker room with Marshall's friends.
Around 1 p.m., Elk Grove High's principal, Cathy Guy, made the announcement over the loudspeaker. She's been a principal for four years. She's never had to do that kind of thing.
The campus fell silent.
Some kids walked out of class, and gathered, sobbing in the cafeteria. Some spoke with counselors. Some prayed. Some tried their best, in silence, to make sense of it all.
But no one at Elk Grove High School understands how this could have happened to Marshall. He was the boy who was nice to everyone.
Isaiah Frazier met Marshall during the first week of school. Frazier, a freshman, was being chased by some seniors on "Freshman Friday." His backpack fell off and its contents spilled. Marshall, a senior, stopped to help him.
"He always made me feel like I was welcome at the school," Frazier said.
Kiari Stewart, a ninth-grader, said Marshall helped her find her way to class when she started at Elk Grove High. He went out of his way to show her around.
"I was just lost looking," she said. "He was real nice."
Marshall had four brothers, a mom and a dad, said Dan Goldman, coach of Elk Grove High's varsity basketball team. His friends say he was very devoted to his family. He worked at Best Buy to help with the bills, they say. Though he didn't have as much money as some of his classmates, he never complained.
Last fall, at dinner before the homecoming dance, Marshall's table came up $10 short on the bill. He threw in an extra $20 and said, "Let's go."
"Like it was nothing," his teammate and close friend Willie Pinkerton remembered. "He gave everything."
Marshall took Advanced Placement English and statistics just because he liked the challenge, Pinkerton said. He never missed class. He earned a 4.0 grade point average.
He danced his "happy dance" whenever anything happened that made him feel happy. He danced it often - even for orange soda. He had special handshakes with all of his many friends, Pinkerton said.
Pinkerton knew Marshall since second grade. Marshall was a basketball point guard even back then, Pinkerton said. He stayed in that position in high school.
Marshall tore ligaments in both knees and missed his junior season in basketball. But he struggled through the pain and came back - as captain. He was always captain, Goldman said.
If Goldman needed someone to dive on a loose ball, Marshall was the first guy to hit the floor.
On Friday afternoon, as school let out, an eerie silence cloaked the rain-soaked campus. Students whispered into cell phones: "This can't be true at all." A scheduled rally was canceled. So was the baseball game. Plans for a memorial service were under way.
Goldman said there will be a stone for Marshall in the school's memorial garden. He said the basketball team will start giving a Chris Marshall award - for outstanding human beings.
A dozen or so boys played pickup basketball on the blacktop outside the gym where Marshall collapsed. The afternoon's silence was punctuated by the thuds of balls being dribbled and shot. A few boys stood quietly on the sidelines, grappling with Marshall's death.
"If it happened to him, it could happen to any of us," said sophomore Brandon Worthy.
"People were calling his name, people were crying and telling him to get up," sophomore Sam Nunez said, remembering the moment Marshall fell.
Under a sudden burst of sunshine, puddles of morning rain had begun to evaporate from the cracked asphalt. Nunez gazed absently at the ball hurrying down the court. "He didn't get up," he said.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/12512301p-13367769c.html
[/font]
