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By David Lee Morgan Jr.
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Friday, Oct 10, 2008
He loved to play the game of football and to be around his teammates.
Friends said he had a warm smile, a sparkle in his eye and a big heart.
And now, 15-year-old Darren Perez is gone.
The Parma Normandy sophomore reserve wide receiver and defensive back died of an aneurysm last Friday. Reports stated that Perez was in the team's weight room Oct. 2 when he collapsed with his teammates — and loyal friends — around him.
He never regained consciousness.
How tragic.
Here, a young man leaves his home Thursday morning for school, and no one ever would have imagined that he would not return.
The Perez family needs prayers and support.
And when it comes to support from the Normandy football program, it's there, and it comes from one of the most important groups: the Mother's Club, which feeds the players before games and offers loving and sympathetic ears for all the team members, should they need some motherly advice.
Meanwhile, as parents, think about how many times we let our children leave the house without kissing and hugging them.
Or telling them we love them.
Or not offering up this gentle phrase: ''Have a nice day at school,'' a few words that could be the difference-maker in that child's life for that particular day.
But hey, every family isn't the Brady Bunch or the Huxtables from the Cosby Show, right?
Sometimes the events that are going on in our lives inadvertently and unknowingly lead us to take people who are close to us for granted, children included.
The reality is that there are times when we get too caught up in our own adult worlds that we forget to stay committed to our young ones. That doesn't make us bad parents.
What the Perez tragedy should help us realize is that at the end of the day, it's not about who won the game.
It's not about who rushed for 100 yards or scored the most touchdowns or who had the most tackles or kicked the longest field goal.
It's not about neighborhood rivalries getting so nasty to the point that fans are setting bad examples when it comes to sportsmanship.
It's about team and love and friendships and camaraderie and families coming together to back each other's kids during the season and cultivating and building friendships that will last long after their children's playing days are over.
Which is why Normandy Athletic Director Harry Caruthers' profound words of wisdom when we spoke on the telephone recently were so gloriously uplifting amid a time of absolute heartbreak.
''Through all of this, I think the kids have focused on something special,'' Caruthers said. ''They have focused on the fact that the last thing you say to someone might, in fact, be the very last time that you do say something to them.''
Caruthers' point: Never wait to tell someone how much you care about them, because we aren't guaranteed tomorrow.
''Unfortunately, our kids had to learn a tough life lesson like this,'' Caruthers said. ''What has helped us is that we have always been a strong team and we're a big family and we wanted to be able to help Darren's family by being here for them.
''To experience what we have gone through in the last week is tough, very tough, but we have bonded together through this tragedy and it's going to help us to move forward.''
So knowing that time is not guaranteed, go support your son or daughter in any sport or extracurricular activity.
Go watch a neighborhood kid down the street play a sandlot game, and root for him or her.
And lastly, here's a suggestion to high school football sites all across Northeast Ohio tonight. Why not offer a moment of silence once both teams are on the field before the national anthem, not only in honor of Darren Perez, but also in honor of all young men and women who passed away while competing in high school.
Because during that moment of silence, maybe we adults will remember to kiss our children goodbye in the morning and whisper to them, ''Have a nice day at school.''
David Lee Morgan Jr. can be reachedat dlmorgan@thebeaconjournal.com.
He loved to play the game of football and to be around his teammates.
Get the full article here.
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Posted 10:55 AM, 10/10/2008
My prayers go out to the family. This is so tragic....
