By KARL E. PEARSON - kpearson@starbeacon.com
Staff Writer
—
The fleeting nature of life was driven home in crushing fashion late Tuesday night to the Lakeside football team and coaching staff with the drowning death of former Dragon Joe Lathan, a 2009 Lakeside graduate.
Now, coach Bill Lipps and the members of the 2010 Dragons are struggling to find ways to deal with the passing of Lathan, 19, after the incident at the Conneaut Harbor lighthouse, from which Lathan was diving Tuesday. The details surrounding the incident are still under investigation.
Funeral arrangements are pending with Ducro Funeral Services and Crematory of Ashtabula.
Lipps has found the struggle with his own emotions at Lathan’s passing a tough matter with which to deal. At the same time, he and his staff are trying to provide guidance to Lathan’s former teammates.
“It’s been a rough 24 hours,” Lathan said. “You don’t expect to get a phone call like that. A lot of these kids become like your kids. The whole program has been affected by this.”
The 5-foot-8, 175-pound Lathan was not a standout player for the Dragons.
“He played defensive tackle and as a blocking back in some of our offensive formations,” Lipps said. “He played on all our special teams.
“He was a tough, strong kid that loved physical contact. He probably benched about 235 or 240 pounds. He wasn’t a gifted skill player and he wasn’t going to play on our offensive line, so we put him on the defensive line and told him to go get (the ball carrier). He was a street fighter.”
But Lathan was the kind of player Lipps said many high school football programs depend.
“Joe was a great role player for us,” he said. “He was the kind of fringe player every program needs to be successful.”
Lathan was a bit of an interesting character. Football seemed to bring out the best in him.
“I know he gave the administrators at Lakeside fits,” Lipps said. “But he was always respectful to me, always yes, sir, no, sir.
“And Joe was a great teammate. He bawled like a baby when our season was over. He was as important to our team as (fellow 2009 graduates) Kyle George (at quarterback) or Anthony Colucci (two-time Star Beacon Ashtabula County Offensive Lineman of the Year).”
There was never any question of Lathan’s devotion to the football team.
“He’d go to practice every day and gave it everything he had,” Lipps said. “And he was always out there with a smile.”
When Lipps and several of his teammates heard of the tragedy surrounding Lathan, they rushed to the hospital to offer their support. Even Jordan Sandidge, who had played at Lakeside before completing his career at Madison in 2008 and was Lathan’s cousin, joined those who were at University Hospital-Conneaut Medical Center when Lathan was taken after rescue workers found him and transported him there.
Much of Wednesday’s activity around the fieldhouse at Lakeside Stadium was spent trying to make sense of the tragedy.
“We forget how precious life is,” Lipps said. “Sometimes, it takes a tragedy to wake us up. It’s unfortunate it takes a tragedy to do that.
“We talked a lot about avoiding risky behavior. We talked about Joe Lathan always being a Lakeside Dragon. His sudden death doesn’t make it any less so.”
Plans are already being made to honor Lathan during the upcoming season.
“Nobody will wear No. 33 (Lathan’s number) this year,” Lipps said. “I talked to our Goal Line Club at a meeting tonight and they’re buying No. 33 (decals) to be put on all the helmets.”
But Lipps said he expects less tangible expressions of their esteem for Lathan to be carried by the Dragons this year.
“We told the boys if Joe had thought his sudden death would make them give any less, it would crush him,” he said. “We told them Joe might not be at the stadium cheering them on this year, but he’d always be watching them play. We want them to keep Joe in their hearts.
“I know a lot of them question why Joe was taken. I know he was remembered a lot during the day. We told them this was another way to show how they handle adversity. We also told them that this shows none of us are invincible.”
But Lipps also said he spent a portion of the day lost in his own emotions about Lathan’s passing. That will continue to do so in the days ahead.
“I spent all day looking at the photo on my desk with No. 33 smiling at me,” he said. “Joe was a quirky kid that everyone loved.”
