EAST JACKSON has a game Friday against Athens Academy, but football is no longer foremost in the Eagles’ minds after a Monday tragedy.
Eagle defensive line coach Joel Conway, 34, was killed just before 7 a.m. when his vehicle ran off the road, hit two trees and flipped several times after swerving to miss some deer. Conway died at the scene due to injuries sustained in the crash.
The funeral is Thursday.
Conway was in his first-year at East Jackson, joining new coach Brian Smith’s staff this season after having worked for four seasons at Jackson County where he coached the Panther offensive line under head coach Billy Kirk.
The loss of Conway has sent shockwaves through East Jackson.
“Our kids are hurting, our school is hurting,” Smith said. “It’s just something that we’re not prepared for, that nobody is ever prepared for.”
Smith spoke of the impact Conway had at East Jackson in his short time there and said he knew immediately that he wanted Conway on his staff.
“The first thing that I was told about him by somebody who worked with him was that he was a great football coach and an even better teacher and person,” Smith said. “That told me immediately that we wanted to hire him.”
Meanwhile, at Jackson County, Kirk — who hired Conway from Woodstock High School in 2007 — called Conway’s death “devastating.”
Kirk, who coached for four years with Conway, said he remembers a lot of laughter and good times being around Conway. He also remembers an extremely hard worker that could always be counted on.
“He was the most dependable coach that I’ve ever had … He was just one of those coaches that you want your kids to be around,” Kirk said.
That charisma carried over to East Jackson, where Conway taught history in addition to his defensive line coaching duties. He was to be an assistant baseball coach in the spring.
“The kids loved him,” Smith said. “One thing about it, you kind of laugh about line coaches because they tend to be very much energetic, very much lovable in the things that they do. Our kids over the last two days have shared stories about him. That’s just the kind of guy he was.”
Smith said students set up stations at lunch where people could pay their respects by signing posters for Conway’s family (his wife teaches at East Jackson) or making donations to a scholarship fund established for Conway’s 2-year-old son.
As for football this week, East Jackson did practice on Monday — something that allowed players and coaches to take their minds briefly off the devastating news of the day.
“It was kind of like when it was over, we were like, ‘OK, now we got to go back to life,’” Smith said. “We kind of had a diversion for an hour and a half, I guess.”
Understandably, it will be hard for the Eagles — who will face Athens Academy one day after Conway’s funeral — to focus on football this week. Smith said Tuesday that he hasn’t even looked at film since this weekend.
“Honestly, we’re not even worried about that right now,” Smith said.
He added that the coaches and players would get through this together.
“It’s kind of like, we’re going to go on the field and we’re going to practice and we’re doing to do this and we’re going to get through it and we’re going to do it as a team,” Smith said. “That’s what we have to do because it’s what he would want.”
