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DIEHL PAYS TRIBUTE TO FALLEN HIGH SCHOOL PLAYER
Posted by Mike Florio on August 29, 2008, 9:50 a.m.
“He had so much life ahead of him. It’s unbelievable. It’s sad,” Diehl said. ”What better way to honor a football player than to put his number on your tape?”
He didn’t know Gfeller, but Diehl learned of the tragedy from his agent, Peter Schaffer, a close friend of the Gfeller family.
We did a little research on Gfeller, and we can already tell he was the kind of kid that would make any parent proud — Eagle scout, goal-oriented, motivated, focused.
“He has always been ‘The One That’s Coming,’ the next great football player at Reynolds [High School], and he was,” coach Mike Propst told the Winston-Salem Journal. “They live in this beautiful house, and he had this piece of paper taped on his door with his football goals, and his No. 1 goal was to start at Reynolds as a sophomore.
“He had a sign over his door that said ‘Football is my life.’ He was very serious about it, and he would text message or call me about every day over the summer. He would leave me messages like, ‘Coach, I am sorry to bother you, but I really need to talk to you about something.’ And it would be about some step he was working on. And I would say, ‘Matty, you need to stop reading books and just play football.’”
So here’s to Matt Gfeller, and to his family and teammates, coaches and friends. At a time when there’s so much talk about a guy who might mess up his knee if he plays, we need to remember that, at every level of the sport, there’s a constant risk — perhaps small but nevertheless real — of a far more serious outcome.
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DIEHL PAYS TRIBUTE TO FALLEN HIGH SCHOOL PLAYER
Posted by Mike Florio on August 29, 2008, 9:50 a.m.
Giants left tackle David Diehl played Thursday night’s preseason game with the number “57″ written on the tape that covers his wrist. But Diehl doesn’t wear that number.
It was, as it turns out, a tribute to Matt Gfeller, a 15-year-old Eagle Scout who died last weekend after suffering an on-field head injury.
“He had so much life ahead of him. It’s unbelievable. It’s sad,” Diehl said. ”What better way to honor a football player than to put his number on your tape?”
He didn’t know Gfeller, but Diehl learned of the tragedy from his agent, Peter Schaffer, a close friend of the Gfeller family.
We did a little research on Gfeller, and we can already tell he was the kind of kid that would make any parent proud — Eagle scout, goal-oriented, motivated, focused.
“He has always been ‘The One That’s Coming,’ the next great football player at Reynolds [High School], and he was,” coach Mike Propst told the Winston-Salem Journal. “They live in this beautiful house, and he had this piece of paper taped on his door with his football goals, and his No. 1 goal was to start at Reynolds as a sophomore.
“He had a sign over his door that said ‘Football is my life.’ He was very serious about it, and he would text message or call me about every day over the summer. He would leave me messages like, ‘Coach, I am sorry to bother you, but I really need to talk to you about something.’ And it would be about some step he was working on. And I would say, ‘Matty, you need to stop reading books and just play football.’”
So here’s to Matt Gfeller, and to his family and teammates, coaches and friends. At a time when there’s so much talk about a guy who might mess up his knee if he plays, we need to remember that, at every level of the sport, there’s a constant risk — perhaps small but nevertheless real — of a far more serious outcome.