In the wake of senseless tragedy, nothing can suffice. Anyone who has lived through an unexpected death knows, no words spoken, no songs sung, no amount of hugs or eulogizing can make sense of some of the vicious curves life can deal us. So, with the knowledge that we can’t make things right, we do what we can—we do the little things. Stickers, for example, are little things—but they’re also the way that football teams pay tribute to those who deserve it, from the NFL on down to high school.
And so it was that Poly coach Raul Lara brought his team captains to the beginning of a Wilson practice on Thursday, to present the Bruins with memorial stickers bearing the initials “MR.” Both teams will wear the stickers for the remainder of the season in remembrance of Melody Ross, the young honor student who lost her life outside of the Wilson/Poly football game last Friday. The Wilson team had already presented Ross’ parents with a team helmet, and Lara gave Wilson coach Mario Morales a sticker for them, as well.
Lara spoke briefly but eloquently, saying, “We’re not displaying this because she passed away—Long Beach is a special place, a big family really. This is one of the longest-running rivalries, not just in the area, but in the country—and this sticker is to say, ‘We don’t tolerate this.'”
Referring to the killing as “a black eye to Long Beach,” Lara said that rumors had initially led to he and his team believing the slain student was a sister of a Jackrabbit. “But when we found out it wasn’t,” he said, “it didn’t hurt any less.”
After speaking, Lara and the captains Chris Leachman, Andrew Suttles, Earnest Pettway, and Michael Teo presented Morales with an envelope containing the stickers. In addition to wearing them, Wilson will be turning their “W” helmet decals upside down so that they’ll all be wearing “M”s as well. Morales said after the presentation that he felt Lara and Poly were “a class act” for not only purchasing the stickers, but coming to campus to present them in person.
The Wilson coaches have found themselves in the awkward position of trying to motivate their team with a must-win game coming up on Friday, while acknowledging the need to give students time to reflect and attend gatherings—Wednesday’s practice, for example, was canceled so students could attend a candlelight vigil. “We have to have a great practice today,” said Morales to his team. “We have to go to work—we have a purpose.”
If the Bruins win at Jordan on Friday, they’ll play Lakewood in week 10 for a share of the league title—if they lose, they could put their playoff chances in serious jeopardy. A week ago, that would have seemed like a much bigger deal to the team than it does now. Wilson still wants to win, and badly, but as Morales said of last Friday, “Yeah, we lost a game, but that poor girl lost her life.”
It’s a statement so simple and yet so profound that it’s hard to comprehend—likely because this isn’t the kind of thing that can be understood, or dealt with easily. Thankfully, there are things that make sense, that the players and campus can turn to—things like stickers, for example. And football, for another.