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Bethune Cookman Mourns Death of Freshman Football Player

After the death of a Bethune-CookmanCollegefootball player in a car accident last week, BCCstudents, and administrators continued to mourn the loss of theirclassmate and teammate.

“It’s like someone dropped a ton ofbricks on my head,” said Alvin Wyatt, Wildcat’s headfootball coach, in a release.  “The entire coachingstaff is disheartened and confused about this tragicaccident.”

Kovensky Pierre, 18, was pronounced dead at thescene Sept. 14, after he lost control of his car near Jacksonville and slammed into a tracker trailer.

Another BCC student, Willie Jackson, 19, was inthe passenger seat.  He remained in critical conditionThursday at Shands Hospital in Gainesville,Fl. Earlier this week he had both his legs amputated, said OpioMashariki, the college’s sports informationdirector.

The Bethune-Cookman coaching staff expectedPierre to return to campus Sept. 14, instead of theprevious day because he had been experiencing car trouble. Football coaches contacted Anne Marie Pierre, the footballplayer’s mother, who told them of the car accident, Masharikisaid.

During the accident, neither men wore seatbelts,according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.  According tothe report, Pierre was speeding eastbound on Interstate 10when he failed to slow down for traffic.  He lost control ofthe vehicle, which jumped the median, crossed westbound lanes, andwas hit by a truck.

Pierre wouldhave played this season as an offensive lineman for the Wildcats,but planned to red shirt.  The Wildcats are third in the MEACconference with a record of 1-1.  They won in the seasonopener at Arkansas Pine Bluff and lost Sept. 18 at Grambling State University.

The BCC athletics department and local ministersalong with the Student Government Association held prayer servicesto honor the memory of Pierre and tohope for Jackson‘s recovery.

“We are in a state of shock,” saidLynn Thompson, the college’s athletic director in therelease.  “But we are also in a posture of prayer forthis young man, his family and the entire Wildcatfamily.”

The president of BCC expressed her grievances lastweek for the freshman and planned to establish a scholarship inPierre‘s honor.

 “Though I haven’t been herelong, I do remember Kovensky Pierre,” Reed said in thecollege’s press release.  “He assured me that thefootball team would take care of business [winning its seasonopener] at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.  He had a delightfulpersonality.”