“On Friday nights it might be about football,” said Daviess County Football Coach Marcus Kimbrell, “But none of that matters. What really matters is showing love to other people. This is the least we could do.”
What he’s referring to is the idea of two of his players that the whole DCHS football team should wear their uniforms and line 54 as Taylor Widmer’s funeral procession drives by Monday afternoon. (Widmer, who played football at “rival” Apollo high school, where he was about to be a junior, was killed in a tragic auto accident Thursday.) Apparently the two DCHS players didn’t feel right about going to the funeral home visitation, but they still wanted to do something to show their respect. One of their moms called coach Kimbrell to bounce the idea off him. Kimbrell immediately loved the idea, emailed the other parents, and then tweeted details via the DCHS football Twitter account.
“Obviously, Taylor was a pretty special kid and he touched a lot of people. He had friends on our team and friends in our school. I just think this is a great opportunity for our kids to show their support to Taylor’s family and the Apollo High family as well.”
Word quickly spread and the invitation was opened up to any DCHS student who wanted to join the team in showing their respect. But why stop there?
Kimbrell next called Coach Prince at OHS and Coach Edge at OCHS, who were more than happy to be included and quickly passed on the opportunity to their players as well. Now the plan is for anyone who would like to show their respect by standing along the route to meet at Kohl’s parking lot at noon. The procession is expected to pass between 12:15-12:45.
With the outpouring of love and respect this town usually shows, you can bet both sides of 54 will be decked out in blue, red, black, and green tomorrow afternoon. For the rest of the season, DCHS players will also wear a blue #74 on their helmets in remembrance of Widmer.
