COACHES, TEAMMATES LEARN TO MOVE FORWARD

— FAYETTEVILLE - Bryan Ross, still stunned by the news he received only a few minutes earlier, was at a loss for words. So he sat and prayed.

Siloam Springs’ first-year football coach spent a few moments trying to collect his thoughts. He then asked God to give him “some words” - the right words - to share with his players, who had been told to meet in the football field house.

Ross didn’t know how to tell his players that junior wide receiver Cody Noble - who had been voted by his teammates to serve on the team’s unity counsel - died Nov. 2. A Washington County Sheriff’s Office spokesman confi rmed Noble’s death was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“It was one of those things that you’re in shock about the situation, and the administration asked me if I wanted them to tell the team or if it wanted to do it,” Ross said. “I said as the head coach, it’sprobably my responsibility.”

A similar scene played out at Gravette after offensive lineman Casey Russell died Sept. 23 from a staph infection. And Fayetteville baseball coach Vance Arnold was left to search for the right words to say after Beau Spencer and Forrest Turner died Feb. 1 when the barn they were staying in for a sleepover caught fi re.

Counselors were brought in to help students try to make sense of their classmates’ deaths. Football games were played in memory of fallen teammates. And communities came together and memorials were made as teams struggled to cope with the loss.

“It’s a tragic deal. It leaves a void when you look at the chairs, the place where thosekids were,” said Arnold, who had never had a current player die during his long coaching career. “It’s something that just upsets you.”

Fayetteville counselor Lesli Zeagler said seven or eight students have died in her eight years at the school, but the fact Spencer and Turner died at the same time made it particularly dift cult for their classmates to accept.

“This was a weird combination of events that made it unique and unusual,” Zeagler said.

As soon as Fayetteville administrators learned of the deaths, the school implemented the protocol that it has in place to help students cope.

The teachers who had Spencer and Turner in their classes were informed of their deaths. Four additional counselors were brought in from the surrounding junior high schools. And a crisis center was set up in Fayetteville’s College and Career room.

The room was stocked with cookies and art supplies, giving students a place to go to talk with counselors and make cards and signs for their former classmates and their grieving families.

“Forrest and Beau, they were in the same Spanish class together. This was a class of about 18 kids,” Zeagler said. “... It was two kids pulled out of that class. I’m not sure if the rest of the semester was ever the same.”

Attempts to reach the parents of Spencer, Turnerand Noble for this report were unsuccessful.

In the days following each of the four players’ deaths, Facebook pages dedicated to them were created. Memorials were also constructed at the respective schools.

Photographs of Spencer and Turner pitching were posted at the door of Fayetteville’s baseball complex, along with wooden bats with their names on them and a home plate signed by their former teammates. Since Spencer was also a wide receiver on Fayetteville’s football team, his No. 46 jersey was displayed in the weight room.

Meanwhile, Noble’s football locker at Siloam Springs remained intact. At his parent’s request, the entirePanthers football team attended his funeral. They wore their jerseys, and a few players served as pallbearers.

The next day, Siloam Springs played a game against Harrison. Ross asked the players if they wanted the game to be postponed, and they said no.

However, during his pregame speech, Ross admitted he broke down in the locker room. A rush of emotions - which had been building up over the previous few days - hit him at once.

“I didn’t anticipate that. That was probably the roughest point for me, trying to stay composed,” Ross said. “What do you tell them when your thoughts aren’t totally on the game ?”

Sports, Pages 9 on 12/25/2009

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