STORRS — -
They clearly came from different backgrounds. They were student athletes and non-athletes. They were community dignitaries. Some were just fans — and friends.
The UConn marching band wore white T-shirts with the No. 6 in blue.
Others wore blue tees with the No. 6 in white.
The UConn community began to file heavy into the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts around 6:30 p.m. Thursday night, some 30 minutes before its turn to pay tribute to one of their own.
"A Celebration of Jazz" was held in memory of Jasper Howard the 20-year-old UConn football player stabbed to death on campus Oct. 18, hours after a game.
Howard's mother, Joanglia, sisters Keyondra and Jasmine, stepfather Henry Williams and uncle David Donaldson were among the family members who attended the tribute. Howard's girlfriend, Daneisha Freeman, pregnant with his daughter, sat on stage with the family.
The tribute to Howard, No. 6 for the Huskies and known as Jazz, lasted about an hour and included wonderful musical selections by Blue Note, a collection of seven students from the African American Cultural Center.
Athletic director Jeff Hathaway, women's basketball player Kaili McLaren, African American Cultural Center director Dr. Willena Kimpson Price, football player Kashif Moore, team chaplain Daniel Sullivan, student government president Thomas Haggerty, UConn president Michael Hogan and football coach Randy Edsall all spoke eloquently about Jazz.
Edsall presented the family with a touching letter from a 7-year-old boy and West Virginia fan he received about Howard. Edsall also presented the family with a flag from the Connecticut National Guard 118th Medical Battalion out of Newington, which attended the Huskies' win at Baylor in Waco, Texas, on Sept. 19.
At different times throughout the tribute, Howard's mother wiped away tears. The video tribute to her son's UConn football career, accompanied by P. Diddy's "I'll Be Missing You," caused her to slowly dip her face into her hands. As she was being comforted by Williams, Keyondra lay over her chair with her head on Edsall's chest. He kept hugging her tightly.
The family had seen and heard how Jazz touched so many people in Miami's Little Haiti section when more than 1,500 people attended his funeral at New Birth Baptist Church in North Miami on Oct. 26.
"We have spent the last few weeks in sorrow, but now it's time to look to God to be joyful that Jazz is now with him," Sullivan said. "For no one is too young to be perfectly loved by Almighty God. And how do we know Jazz is perfectly loved by God? Simply because of the outpouring surrounded by Jazz that we all have experienced, here at UConn, at Little Haiti, where so many people came to express their love for Jazz, and here this evening as well."
The time had come for the UConn community to show the family how much Jazz meant to them.
"I've been fortunate to work here for nearly two decades and I've never seen any one person or any singular event that had more impact on this university than what we experienced following Oct. 18," Hathaway said. "Jazz brought this UConn community together quicker than anything before, closer than ever and with great strength and great spirit.
"Personally, I know one thing: I know that Jazz will always live in our hearts and minds and that Jazz will forever be a Husky."
McLaren's first encounter with Howard on campus — he introduced himself in his typical excited kind of way — is still her most memorable.
She said she knew from then on he was somebody she wanted in her life because of his positive energy.
"Jasper's passing isn't a negative thing," McLaren said. "We should all take something good from this. He left a lasting impact on all of us. That's why we're here tonight. It brought us together as a community. ... I hope and pray we continue to be like that."
Price had Howard in a class and talked about his spirit, his wit and the one thing Howard wanted to do with his life — make the lives of his mother and sisters better.
Howard's teammate Moore, struggling to speak at times, drew laughter when he talked about how he and Howard used to wake up on Sundays as roommates last year, and go to the computer to see online pictures of themselves in action.
Edsall presented the team with Howard's No. 6 jersey. Edsall said no one would wear it until after Howard's graduation date — May 2011.
After that, Edsall said, it will only be given to a player who displays the hard-working, determined-to-succeed nature of Jasper Howard.
The UConn marching band wore white T-shirts with the No. 6 in blue.
Others wore blue tees with the No. 6 in white.
The UConn community began to file heavy into the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts around 6:30 p.m. Thursday night, some 30 minutes before its turn to pay tribute to one of their own.
"A Celebration of Jazz" was held in memory of Jasper Howard the 20-year-old UConn football player stabbed to death on campus Oct. 18, hours after a game.
Howard's mother, Joanglia, sisters Keyondra and Jasmine, stepfather Henry Williams and uncle David Donaldson were among the family members who attended the tribute. Howard's girlfriend, Daneisha Freeman, pregnant with his daughter, sat on stage with the family.
The tribute to Howard, No. 6 for the Huskies and known as Jazz, lasted about an hour and included wonderful musical selections by Blue Note, a collection of seven students from the African American Cultural Center.
Athletic director Jeff Hathaway, women's basketball player Kaili McLaren, African American Cultural Center director Dr. Willena Kimpson Price, football player Kashif Moore, team chaplain Daniel Sullivan, student government president Thomas Haggerty, UConn president Michael Hogan and football coach Randy Edsall all spoke eloquently about Jazz.
Edsall presented the family with a touching letter from a 7-year-old boy and West Virginia fan he received about Howard. Edsall also presented the family with a flag from the Connecticut National Guard 118th Medical Battalion out of Newington, which attended the Huskies' win at Baylor in Waco, Texas, on Sept. 19.
At different times throughout the tribute, Howard's mother wiped away tears. The video tribute to her son's UConn football career, accompanied by P. Diddy's "I'll Be Missing You," caused her to slowly dip her face into her hands. As she was being comforted by Williams, Keyondra lay over her chair with her head on Edsall's chest. He kept hugging her tightly.
The family had seen and heard how Jazz touched so many people in Miami's Little Haiti section when more than 1,500 people attended his funeral at New Birth Baptist Church in North Miami on Oct. 26.
"We have spent the last few weeks in sorrow, but now it's time to look to God to be joyful that Jazz is now with him," Sullivan said. "For no one is too young to be perfectly loved by Almighty God. And how do we know Jazz is perfectly loved by God? Simply because of the outpouring surrounded by Jazz that we all have experienced, here at UConn, at Little Haiti, where so many people came to express their love for Jazz, and here this evening as well."
The time had come for the UConn community to show the family how much Jazz meant to them.
"I've been fortunate to work here for nearly two decades and I've never seen any one person or any singular event that had more impact on this university than what we experienced following Oct. 18," Hathaway said. "Jazz brought this UConn community together quicker than anything before, closer than ever and with great strength and great spirit.
"Personally, I know one thing: I know that Jazz will always live in our hearts and minds and that Jazz will forever be a Husky."
McLaren's first encounter with Howard on campus — he introduced himself in his typical excited kind of way — is still her most memorable.
She said she knew from then on he was somebody she wanted in her life because of his positive energy.
"Jasper's passing isn't a negative thing," McLaren said. "We should all take something good from this. He left a lasting impact on all of us. That's why we're here tonight. It brought us together as a community. ... I hope and pray we continue to be like that."
Price had Howard in a class and talked about his spirit, his wit and the one thing Howard wanted to do with his life — make the lives of his mother and sisters better.
Howard's teammate Moore, struggling to speak at times, drew laughter when he talked about how he and Howard used to wake up on Sundays as roommates last year, and go to the computer to see online pictures of themselves in action.
Edsall presented the team with Howard's No. 6 jersey. Edsall said no one would wear it until after Howard's graduation date — May 2011.
After that, Edsall said, it will only be given to a player who displays the hard-working, determined-to-succeed nature of Jasper Howard.
There are some really uninformed comments on here. There was a quickly organized vigil. There was a funeral that only the team went to in Florida. There were gestures by West Virginias in the first game after the murder. There was the first home game moment of silence and 1 minute tribute at the first home game (Rutgers) after the murder. And this event was a longer, planned service, not a vigil, not a funeral, not a moment of silence in a stadium. It baffles me how some of the comments on here don't get that a university is a community and as such, wanted to have its own organized service(not the same as a vigil) for those who could not go to the funeral. Whoever you are, maybe you were never part of a college community. Whatever, I feel sorry you have such a miserable view on life.
coldspringfarm10 (11/13/2009, 10:25 AM )