For Herb Gainer, it was just another horrifying trip down Memory Lane.

Gainer awoke last Sunday to hear the news from his wife about the tragic death of Connecticut cornerback Jasper Howard. The Miami native was fatally stabbed at a school-sponsored dance last Saturday night.

Gainer then read about the two players who were by Howard’s side in his final moments. That’s when he thought he was reading his story from over 20 years ago, while he was in an eerily similar situation as a member of the Florida State football team.

In September 1986, Gainer was also at a school-sponsored dance with about 20 teammates. He left that dance with one fewer teammate, as Seminoles starting offensive tackle Pablo Lopez was shot to death outside a university gymnasium. He held Lopez’s hand as he lay on the ground.

‘No one could really believe what happened,’ Gainer said. ‘Pablo’s death had a profound effect on a lot of people.

‘There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it.’

Gainer is one of the few across the country who can relate to the sullen hearts on the Connecticut campus. Howard’s passing has brought perspective to coaches and players across the country about the pain caused by deaths in their own programs. And it has brought an outpouring of sympathy and understanding from those who have already experienced the burial of a teammate, coach, or friend.

Gainer said he can relate to the two players who were by Howard’s side in his final moments, identified later this week as sophomore wide receivers Kashif Moore and Mike Smith.

Like the situation in Connecticut, Gainer’s dance was also interrupted by a fire alarm. As students emptied outside, Lopez became involved in a dispute. Gainer had already ventured back inside the dance when two women rushed in and told him Lopez had been shot. He rushed to Lopez’s side and was with him until the ambulance arrived.

‘It’s just surreal to see your buddy on the ground and not able to move,’ Gainer said. ‘You just keep saying, ‘You’re going to be okay. You’re going to get up any minute.”

Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald is also no stranger to death. Death has been part of his football career from the start.

In 1995, he played linebacker for the Wildcats and was a teammate of defensive back Marcel Price, who died while fooling around with a handgun.

He was also a teammate to defensive tackle Bobby Russ and fullback Matt Hartl, both of whom died in 1999, when Fitzgerald was starting out his coaching career as an assistant at Colorado. Russ was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer after a highway traffic stop resulted in a pursuit. Hartl had a relapse with Hodgkin’s disease.

Fitzgerald returned to Northwestern as an assistant in 2001, the year that safety Rashidi Wheeler died after collapsing during a summer drill.

And just three years ago, Fitzgerald became the youngest head coach in Division I after his coaching mentor, Randy Walker, passed away from complications of a heart attack.

That doesn’t mean he’ll ever get used to the concept of death.

But he said there are still lessons to take away from death, even though they may be the some of the toughest lessons that life hands out.

‘It’s always going to be real,’ Fitzgerald said. ‘But the way I’ve looked at it is you use it as body armor, and take the great lessons you learn and the great times you’ve had with your teammate and lift him up by the way you live your life.’

Fitzgerald said he cries behind closed doors and lets the emotion in the heat of the moment comes out in him. But he moves forward quickly, and takes with him the lessons of his close friends who have passed.

He has yet to erase the message from Walker – both figuratively and literally. On a dry-erase board in Northwestern’s football meeting room, Walker wrote his goals for the program and how he tried to do things the right way. His words also came with a caveat: ‘Do Not Erase.’ Fitzgerald looks at the board, each and every day.

Do not erase. That would be Fitzgerald’s advice to Connecticut coach Randy Edsall and the rest of the Connecticut team.

‘I hope I lift (Walker) up every day,’ Fitzgerald said. ‘You just have to keep them with you every day.’

Gainer said he was proud of the resilience of Connecticut’s players and coaches, who held a candlelight vigil for Howard last Wednesday night and attended his funeral in Miami on Monday. It’s the same resolve he saw in himself and his teammates over 20 years ago. The same resolve, he said, that a team must have to rally around each other after the death of their friend.

If he could talk to the players at Connecticut, Gainer would convey to them the importance of picking up their fallen teammate.

‘I would tell them to understand that Jasper will always be a part of their lives,’ Gainer said.

‘What they need to do,’ he added, ‘is uplift Jasper Howard’s name.’

Hawk-Eye on the Prize

One of the most pleasant surprises of the college football season is Iowa. After a thrilling 15-13 victory at Michigan State on Saturday, the Hawkeyes are off to the first 8-0 start in school history. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi hit Marvin McNutt as time expired for a seven-yard touchdown pass.

‘It speaks to our players, the character that they have,’ Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said after the game. ‘They realized they still had time.’

The Hawkeyes have now won 12 in a row, dating back to last season, the second longest streak in the nation.

They are the first team to win at Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State since Michigan did so back in 1997. That season, Michigan went 12-0 and claimed a share of the national title.

Game to Watch: No. 3 Texas at No. 14 Oklahoma State

Last year, No. 1 Texas hosted No. 6 Oklahoma State and came up with two huge defensive stands in the fourth quarter to escape with a 28-24 victory.

Looking for revenge, the Cowboys seem to be finding their groove. They have won their last five games, with only one by fewer than 16 points.

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on October 25, 2009 at 12:00 pm