The Lakes Eagles varsity football team usually picks four captains for each game, but the team will instead be running a symbolic missing-man formation for the remainder of this season.
The Eagles decided to leave the fourth captain position open in honor of Lakes senior Bryan Jardinico of Lindenhurst, a good friend of several players on the team, who died of cancer early Saturday morning about six weeks shy of his 18th birthday.
Coming off of an emotional victory over Antioch on Friday night, several Eagles players spoke with shaky voices Saturday as they recalled Bryan and began to mourn his loss.
“I was his best friend since the first day of freshman year,” said varsity linebacker Larry Holmgren. “We were in physics class and he walked up to me with his big old briefcase. He said something about electronic engineering and my first thought was this was a really good kid. I knew he was going to be a really good guy.”
Holmgren said Bryan, who was known for making his friends laugh, was “funny in school,” but he really got to know him when he began going to his house and saw firsthand the electronics and computer systems Bryan was capable of building.
“A cabinet in his basement was filled with contraptions he had made from scratch,” he said.
“It was quite something getting to know Bryan.”
Wilfredo Najarro, another close friend of Bryan and a varsity defensive guard, said he was amazed by Bryan’s attitude after he was diagnosed with brain cancer and began treatment and surgeries. As the end got close, his attitude didn’t waver, he said.
“I felt like he became happier than before, and he told me ‘it’s about the quality of life, not the quantity,'” Najarro said.
He said one of the things he will remember about Bryan is that “he was super funny. He made me laugh.”
Eagles varsity football coach Luke Mertens, also an English teacher, had Bryan in his class last year. He said he was immediately struck by his intellect, and later learned he had an inner strength to match.
The coach asked Bryan to speak to the team before the first game of the season.
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“I told him, ‘sometimes, football players think football is hard and they don’t know what hard is,'” Mertens said. “In typical Bryan fashion, he said, ‘actually, I think football is pretty hard.'”
Bryan did talk to the team about his treatments and surgeries over the summer. Afterward, Mertens said, there was complete silence. From that point on, the coach said, the entire team, including those who didn’t know him, adopted him as a member of the team. Mertens said players asked what they could do to help, and some of what followed was making him an honorary captain, having him present for a pre-game coin toss, and using decals and markers to give him a visual shout-out during games.
Mertens said he was amazed that Bryan returned to school after his treatments “with a walker and a great attitude. He wanted to do all the same work.”
“Bryan will never know the impact he had on 72 football players,” said the coach.
Bryan’s sister, Chrissa, said Bryan was “so kind. He was such a precious gift.”
“He’s amazing,” she said. “We were blessed to have him for 17 years. Even after chemos and surgeries, he found so much joy in talking to people and sharing his experiences. He enjoyed telling jokes because he loved making people laugh.”
Lakes Community High School sent out a notice to families Saturday that Bryan had died, and that a counseling team would be available for students Monday.
“Those of you that know Bryan witnessed his courage and strength as he maintained a positive attitude during his treatment. Bryan wanted nothing more then to return to school and be with his friends here at Lakes,” said the message, signed by Principal David Newberry.
“He was really special,” said Eagles linebacker and running back Nick Austill. “We all made personal decals for Bryan. He was such a good guy. It’s still hard to believe.”
Due to “astronomical medicals bills” the family faces, a Lakes student who has been friends with Bryan since third grade has set up a gofundme.com page to help. The page is located at http://www.gofundme.com/4bryan.
Twitter @jimnewton5