Coaches remember 20-year-old Michigan man who died from COVID-19
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Grand Blanc, Mich. (WNEM) — Freddie Brown III, 20, was one of the most-loved players that ever suited up at Grand Blanc High School.
And he was tragically taken late Sunday night by COVID-19.
“He had a big smile,” Coach Andy Torok said. “He had a heart of gold. And Freddie was Freddie.”
And what made Freddie be Freddie was his love for everybody.
“My son came in new to the school. Freddie treated him like he had been there forever,” Coach Clint Alexander said. “Made him feel that he totally belonged. He was going to make sure that you felt important and you felt loved.”
His passing comes just five days after his father, 57-year-old Freddie Brown Junior, an elder at the Jackson Memorial Temple in Flint also passed away from the deadly virus.
“It happened so fast,” Alexander said. “We were still grieving from the loss of his father and then suddenly you are terrified for Freddie. I really don’t think that anybody thought it was a possibility.”
“You have to send your prayers and thoughts to his mother and support her” Torok said. “You feel helpless because you can’t go over to the house and give them a hug and tell them it is going to be all right.”
Freddie was the type of person that any coach would welcome on to their team. And Alexander’s favorite memory of him came from a team trust fall. It told him how important Freddie was to his teammates.
“When he got up there, they went crazy,” Alexander said. “That told me immediately that they loved him, and they couldn’t be more excited about him getting up there. They were all chanting and screaming. And I asked him if he was ready for this and ask the kids if they had him. He kind of looks over his shoulder and to make sure that they do, and they catch him, and they are all yelling and screaming. It was just a wonderful moment. But really it was bigger than that because it was really about how much they truly cared about him.”
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