It is most appropriate that we open on this Sunday morning –it’s Wednesday afternoon, you say? Oh. Excuse me, er, that we open on today, in the Christian tradition, with this quote from the King James Version of the Bible: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed… nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
A Florida high school football player’s bright shining star has unfortunately dimmed.
After becoming a much sought after recruit, the young man’s bright future would never come to pass following his untimely death and now investigators have ruled his death a suicide.
Bryce Gowdy, 17, died on Monday in his hometown of Deerfield, Fla., after being hit by a freight train. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, authorities arrived on the scene shortly after 4 a.m. and transported the teen to the hospital where he later died.
READ MORE: Georgia Tech defensive tackle Brandon Adams died over the weekend in Atlanta
Gowdy had been a standout on the Deerfield Beach High School football team. As a star player, he helped lead his school in 30 wins over the last three seasons. AJC reported that he had received over 30 scholarship offers, including from Penn State, Syracuse, and Oregon, but in July, he chose to commit to Georgia Tech becoming one of the college’s top recruits.
Gowdy’s death came just one week before he was to officially join the team as he had finished high school one semester early, according to CNN.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that the night before Gowdy’s death, he had asked his mother, Shibbon Winelle, probing questions about life and whether his family would be OK in his absence.
“He kept talking about the signs and the symbols that he was seeing all over the place,” Winelle said in a Facebook video. “About how he could see the world for what it really was. He kept saying that he could see people for what they really are.”
Though Winelle was concerned about her son’s behavior, she said he had also been talking about positive things.
Georgia Tech’s football coach Geoff Collins released a statement expressing his condolences to Gowdy’s family and friends.
“Our entire Georgia Tech football family is devastated by the news of Bryce’s passing,” Collins said in the statement. “Bryce was an outstanding young man with a bright future. He was a great friend to many, including many of our current and incoming team members. On behalf of our coaches, players, staff, and families, we offer our deepest condolences to Bryce’s mother, Shibbon, and his brothers, Brisai and Brayden, as well as the rest of his family members, his teammates and coaches at Deerfield Beach High School, and his many friends. Bryce and his family will always be a part of the Georgia Tech football family.”
READ MORE: George Atkinson III, ex-Raiders, Notre Dame running back dies a year after twin brother’s suicide
A study released in October by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Black teens have increasingly been attempting suicide. Between the years 1991-2017, the study concluded that the suicide rate for black youths grew even as the rate of suicide attempts by teens in other racial and ethnic groups fell.
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A member of the famed Tuskegee Airman received a much-deserved promotion following 30 years of military service.
Charles McGee, a resident of Bethesda, Md., was just promoted to Brigadier General after Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2020 into law on Dec. 20.
READ MORE: Air Force names new trainer jet in honor of Tuskegee Airmen
“It’s wonderful to be recognized for service and what it means to serve,” McGee said. “Certainly to receive that honorary rank is very meaningful.”
WUSA9 reported that McGee, who was a member of the famous Red Tails Squadron, flew 136 missions over Nazi Europe while white pilots were sent home after 50 missions. Following his service during WWII, McGee went on to serve during the Korean and Vietnam wars before his retirement as a colonel.
“Col. Charles McGee’s service to our country is remarkable and fully merits this distinguished honor,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said. “I was proud to fight for the inclusion of this promotion to commemorate his work and his sacrifice. This progress comes just days after Col. McGee’s 100th birthday, and I could not think of a more fitting recognition from a truly grateful nation.”
Prior to the honorary promotion, McGee had just celebrated his 100th birthday for which he piloted a Cirrus Vision Jet, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Last year, for McGee’s 99th birthday, he co-piloted a blue-and-white HondaJet over the Virginia countryside.
READ MORE: M.I.A. Tuskegee Airman finally laid to rest, 75 years after being lost in heroic mission
“He had a high school counselor who said he’d make a good truck driver,” McGee’s son Ronald, who followed in his father’s footsteps to become an aviator, told the Washington Post at the time. “So he went to college and got an aerospace engineering degree.”
A book about McGee’s life, Tuskegee Airman: The Biography of Charles E. McGee, Air Force Fighter Combat Record Holder is available for those interested in learning more about the famed pilot. The book was written by McGee’s eldest daughter, Charlene McGee-Smith, Ph.D.
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