Vigil held in memory of Sullivan South football player who died during Friday's game

By Wes Bunch

Logue, 18, died unexpectedly Friday night after he collapsed on the field during South’s season opener at Knox West High School.

The mood at the vigil — which was attended by teammates, fellow students, faculty and members of the community — was somber and quiet.

As a lone violinist played “Ashokan Farewell,” attendees lined the football field holding aloft lit candles and standing in silence.

A few minutes later, a group of football players brought those lining the field to the 50-yard line — where Logue’s jersey number, 54, and his first name had been added beneath the school’s midfield logo — to lead the Lord’s Prayer.

Shannon Smith, a senior at South who helped organize the vigil with friends and members of the football team, said the turnout was evidence of the impact Logue had on those in the community.

“He was one of those guys you know, no matter what, you’d always see him in the hall and he’d be smiling, all 6-foot-4 of him,” Smith said. “And you can tell from tonight, he was friends with everybody. I can’t remember one time I’ve ever heard or seen Jake say anything mean to anybody. He was just a great person.”

One of 23 seniors on the Sullivan South squad, Logue was a defensive lineman who earned all-conference honors last season. He was selected before the season by his teammates as one of five permanent captains.

“He’s one of my leaders, he’s the type of guy where everybody will say he’s their best friend,” Rebels coach Stacy Carter said. “He’s funny, got a lot of character.

“I think his family would say he’s a great son. He’s a great friend, he loves Jesus and he’s living with him. And he wasn’t a half bad football player either.”

A team meeting was called Saturday at noon to try to help players begin the mourning process, Carter said.

“We really prayed hard, about what we’re going to do and what we’re going to say and pretty much just let God take control of that and see where he got us,” Carter said. “Basically we talked about, first what the Lord wants us to do and what Jake would want us to do. We’re honoring the family, and the family wants to honor Jake and get back playing football.”

Sullivan South Athletic Director Anthony Richardson said he felt the team’s closeness and faith would help them begin to cope with the tragedy. “This is a tight group of seniors, and I talked with a lot of them today and I think that tightness is going to get them through this,” Richardson said. “It’s going to take some time, but they’re going to trust in the Lord and let him take care of the hurt and we’ll go from there.”

Smith said many students she talked to were still trying to come to terms with what happened.

“It was just a very sudden and unexpected event,” she said. “I went around talking to a few people tonight and I heard a lot of pople say it hasn’t soaked in yet and they’re not fully understanding it yet and it hasn’t really hit them.”

To help students deal with the loss, Sullivan County Schools Superintendent Jack Barnes said a crisis team would be sent to South beginning Monday morning.

“We’re going to have a crisis team there at the school to help not only the students, but the faculty if it’s needed,” Barnes said. “We’ll have the number that it takes, whatever it takes. We’ll pull them in from all of our schools if we need to.

“We want to try and help them get through this tragedy as best we can and it’s just a very sad situation. It’s a blow not only to the school and our system, but to the team he loved so dearly.”