After the game he was hoisted in the air by his teammates. The packed Fennville gymnasium erupted as their boys clinched a perfect season. During the celebration, Leonard went into cardiac arrest and collapsed in front of his teammates as well as a stunned audience of just previously giddy Fennville fans.
He was rushed to a local hospital where he died a few hours later. The cause of death is not yet known.
That picture is from the post-game celebration. One second he was smiling in the air with his teammates and the next second he was gone. For that family to lose a son at 16 is absolutely devastating. Nothing will ever replace the void Wes will leave in their lives, and nothing anyone can say or do will ever soften the blow of losing their boy. Although if they ever reach the point of being able to take solace in any part of this tragic loss I would hope that they see the beauty in the way Wes Leonard died.
It is certainly not something that is readily noticeable. Especially not right now, as all of the future buzzer beaters, birthdays, graduations, jobs, first cars, first apartments, and first dates have been erased. For a kid that young to die so unexpectedly, there is nothing in the world that makes any sense about it. Especially a kid as healthy and impressive as Wes Leonard. The only thing about Leonard's death that is not saddening is that Wes Leonard died a winner.
It doesn't seem like much, however the last thing Wes Leonard did in his life was win. His game winning shot completed an undefeated season for the Blackhawks. His last memory will be of winning the game. Nobody can ever take that away from him, either. People will remember the story of Wes Leonard for generations. It is a terribly sad story, yet Wes Leonard's name will forever be associated with winning, and not Charlie Sheen's interpretation of winning. Actual winning.
I hit a game winning shot for my middle school JV basketball team when I was 12 and let me just tell you that few things in the world will ever feel as good as that felt. If I had dropped dead on that gym floor back in 1995 I would have died with a giant smile on my face. Nothing in the world feels quite like that, especially at that age.
Wes Leonard went out on top. When people talk about Wes Leonard, they are going to talk about what could have been, and how sad it is that it never will. They are also going to talk about how right before he died he started off going left before crossing over to his right hand and blowing by his defender to the hoop where he softly laid the ball up and through the net to seal his team's undefeated season. They will talk about how he won the game for the Blackhawks.
Now, I don't necessarily subscribe to the theory of "Winning Is Everything" and I hope my sentiments aren't coming off that way. Winning is important, but so is losing. Life is all about winning and losing and most of us just want to win a few more than we lose before they put us in the ground.
Wes Leonard went out a winner. And really, that's all any of us are trying to do.
RIP Wes Leonard
-Judge
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