SELMA, Ala. — An Alabama high school football player, who died after being critically injured during a game, was remembered at a Monday memorial service as a caring and talented athlete who accomplished much in his 16 years.
Morgan Academy quarterback Caden Tellier died Saturday after being injured during the school's Friday night game against Southern Academy in Selma. Tellier, a 16-year-old junior, suffered a brain injury, according to a statement from the Alabama Independent School Association.
Students, parents and teachers, wearing school colors of maroon and gold, gathered at a memorial and prayer service held in the gym of the small private school. Members of his family sat in the first row of the memorial service.
''There has been an outpouring of love that we have received from everyone in this room, people across the country,'' Jamie Tellier, the teen's father, told the community that gathered in the gym.
''I could tell you a lot about who my son was, who my son is,'' said Tellier. ''My son was an exceptional athlete. But the thing he loved the most was to talk about Jesus.''
He told the school's football players that he would still be around because, ''Caden is not going to want me to stop doing things.''
''Caden was only here for 16 years. But my son accomplished so much. He accomplished so much. He loved,'' said Tellier, though tears.
The second oldest of nine cousins, Tellier would always go out of his way to play with the youngest in the group, even when his peers were around, his grandmother, whom he called Mimi, said. Before he died, Caden was teaching his 4-year-old cousin how to throw a baseball, she said.
