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 Follow TVRAA football in the London Free Press. Saturday, October 5, 2002 Players there when South coach needed them
Normally, high school football players are helped through their problems by the coach. This one needed help, big time, from his players. South Lions coach Chris Marcus appealed to his team last month after the tragic -- and as it is turning out, unnecessary deaths -- of two close friends. "When it was all happening, I got the guys together and told them I was hurting and I needed them to help me through it," Marcus said after his defending champion South Lions overpowered Saunders 25-15 in their United Way game yesterday. "They were incredibly supportive. They were terrific." Marcus was among those shattered by the deaths of his former Western teammate Mike Kirkley and his wife, Sandy Crawford, in a crash of their private aircraft. Their sons, Colin and Connor, survived and are recovering. Preliminary crash investigation, Marcus just learned, found the cause of the crash was mechanical failure. The plane's engine continued functioning but the propeller stopped, apparently due to a pin that was supposed to be made of titanium but wasn't and snapped. Marcus and all of Kirkley's close friends were convinced it wasn't pilot error. They described him as a meticulous pilot who double-checked everything, including a gasoline sample to ensure there was no water in it. "Nobody was more thorough than Mike," Marcus said. "Once, I flew to a (Mustangs) game at McMaster with him. He checked everything twice before takeoff and it was taking so long I remember telling him I'd drive down, catch the first half and come back and fly there with him. He was that careful." Most football coaches are like Marcus. The game becomes their life. Watching yesterday's game was Mike Circelli, whose CCH Crusaders come up against the big South offence in two weeks. Tonight, Circelli's London Beefeaters take on the Burlington Braves at John Paul II high school. Up in the press box, Beefeaters assistant coach Brad Winder had his University of Waterloo scouting hat on and was filming all the action as part of his recruitment process. Over here is John Darnell, coaching a high school team after a season of coaching the Forest City Thunderbirds, over there is another group of coaches merely on hand to watch. The brotherhood of football coaches is full of lifers. But even a guy like Marcus can be jolted back from the game that consumes a part of him. The moment the airplane crash consumed the life of his two friends and almost the lives of their children, perspective came crashing in. "I told my players that life is more than football, that family comes first," he said. "How Mike landed the plane was just Mike. He got it away from any housing and landed in such a way that he saved his kids' lives." As the investigation continues into the crash, which happened shortly after takeoff in New Jersey as the Kirkleys were heading back to London, their many friends are sure to be haunted by revelations. While their friend, as accomplished at flying as in many other spheres of his life, had the ability to avoid a worse crash, the crash itself didn't have to happen at all. On a warm and windy afternoon on a field not far from the old Little Stadium, where the hard-running Kirkley was doing the things that made him a pro with the Toronto Argonauts, his old pal was basking in the glow of an important win over a worthy opponent. More profound, though, was the sense of family and extended family, which is what a football team often is. Marcus knew that already. His team reinforced it during those dark days of September.
This article was originally published in the London Free Press and on the London Free Press web site (www.fyilondon.com/londonfreepress). The London Free Press took the article down so a link to it no longer worked. This is my personal use copy, if you want this article please follow the London Free Press Copyright terms. |
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