This is crazy.

From Fanhouse:

All summer, Garrett had worked to improve his passing accuracy, for moments just like these, rivalry games in East Texas.

Against arch-rival Jasper, the work paid off. Garrett dropped back to pass and in the words of his head coach Dan Hooks, a 72-year-old East Texas coaching legend with over 250 career wins, "just threw a perfect post-corner route for a touchdown. It was a beautiful pass."

The crowd of 6,500 exulted. Garrett's second touchdown pass of the game, midway through the second quarter, put his team up 21-0. Hooks remembers locking eyes with his quarterback as Garrett ran off the field. "He was smiling, the biggest smile you'd ever seen, just happy at what he'd done," Hooks told FanHouse on Saturday

As Coach Hooks, a 48-year coaching veteran who has been head coach at West Orange-Stark for the past 30 years, turned to ensure that his special teams were ready to attempt the extra point, Garrett collapsed on the sideline.

"It happened so quick none of us knew what to think," Hooks said. ...

Paramedics rushed to the senior quarterback's aid and at first everyone on the sideline assumed all would be fine.

"It's hard to believe," a shaken Hooks said the next morning. "We've had injuries before, but nothing like this."

Garrett was placed in an ambulance and rushed to the local hospital as the game continued. By the fourth quarter rumors began to circulate throughout the stadium and filter to the sidelines. Reggie Garrett, the quarterback whose final pass was a touchdown, had died at the hospital.

"None of us could believe it," Hooks said, "none of us."

He was only 17. They don't know what happened to the kid. Very sad story. This happened on Friday, the 17th of this month, just a few days ago.

R.I.P.




Suppliers: Fanhouse & Beaumont Enterprise