Fort Stockton players dedicate senior season to lost teammate

FORT STOCKTON, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – During their senior seasons, Isaiah Velasquez, Corbin Luna and Johnny Brown are missing a piece of their beloved Fort Stockton Panthers football team, and hearts.

Brown added: “Having the logo and not him, that’s what I’m thinking about.”

During their eighth grade year, Luna, Velasquez and Brown’s close friend Donavyn Vaughn died tragically after an asthma attack during track practice.

Velasquez said none of them ever believed it would happen: “You never expect it to happen to any of your friends and so when it actually happened, it shocked all of us injured and we didn’t know how to recover from it at such a young age. age.”

Now, nearly four years later, the Panthers football family continues to dedicate their game to someone who should be by their side at all times.

“Every game we play, you know, when we kneel on the field, our prayers go to him and we always think of him,” Velasquez added. “So everything we do is for him.”

The Panthers said Donavyn was someone special and worth knowing.

“He was the beginning of all of us,” Luna mentioned with a smile. “I mean just talking to him, just spending little moments with him, you know he always brought out that good in you.”

And not to mention he was an absolute beast at every sport he put his mind to as well.

Velasquez laughed: “He was good at everything and his athleticism was like, it’s rare, you barely see it, he was good at everything.”

All three said they saw Donavyn all over the field and didn’t let a day go by without thinking about him.

“It comes to mind all day,” Velasquez shrugged. “There’s not a second that I don’t think about him.”

“I mean, I’m happy, I always think about him,” Brown said. “But it’s just for me, I don’t know, not being able to let him know how much we appreciate him, it’s hard, it’s really hard.”

And with it being their senior season, it already meant a lot to end their tenure as a Fort Stockton Panther on the highest note, but now they want to make sure Donavyn knows how important he was and still is to them by devoting their last year to them. to him.

Luna smiled and said, “That’s the point, we do everything for Donavyn.” It’s what pushes us to be better and what brings all three of us together.

“He would like to do that,” Velasquez stressed. “Everything we are doing right now, he would want to do it too. So, you know, we’re going to put it all on the line and make him proud out there.

And Brown made sure to add that their friend was remembered: “We miss him and then we do it for his family, let them know we will always love him.” And to bring them this comfort that he will never be forgotten.

And they all hope he knows how much she really misses him.

“I always knew he would be right next to us,” Luna said. “It doesn’t matter the price.”

“If we’re lucky enough to have kids, it’ll be mentioned a lot,” Brown continued. “For your heart, your hunger, and even after your death, you must always love and learn.”

“I would do anything just to hear his laugh and spend a little more time with him. It sucks, I can’t have him here with me,” and Velasquez, emotional.

The team chooses to dedicate their game to Donavyn each week with a DV sticker on his helmet and allows Isaiah to wear Donavyn’s lucky number four during his senior year.