Grieving for a Team

Just outside of Tie Siding, Wyo., a one-ton pickup truck drifted across the center line of U.S. 287 and slammed into their SUV, ripping the top off and launching the passengers through the air. All eight of them died instantly.

They were college guys—athletes at the University of Wyoming (UW). They crammed eight into an SUV and drove down that two-lane highway, laughing and joking, because that’s what cross-country runners do. They were friends, headed home on a Sunday night. They were teammates, part of something larger than themselves.

Last week, as the Harvard community banded together in candlelight vigils, UW had a vigil of its own, and other student-athletes cried and prayed together. Hundreds of people crowded close in the chilled autumn air, trying to make sense of their tragedy, to cope with such a vicious personal blow.

Not all the athletes knew the fallen runners. The mourners were swimmers and football players, runners and wrestlers. They were connected not by a common sport, but by the pursuit of sport, and they were united that night. The athletes left flowers and pictures on the Wyoming Steamboat statue, and spoke about their common loss.

As student-athletes, the mourners understood the intrinsic value of a team. They knew the bonds formed by shared struggle and pain, strengthened in losses and celebrated in victories. They knew the tenuous thrill of relying upon someone else to be fierce in competition and supportive in practice. They had learned, together, how unforgiving the world can be in competition and defeat. They were all members of a team, and at that vigil, in remembrance of their brethren, they were all teammates.

Though college life is filled with so many worthwhile pursuits, ways with which to spend limited time outside of work and classes, you will find few athletes at Harvard who regret the time they’ve spent on the field, in the locker room and on the bus with their teammates. Athletes realize that there is little substitute for the strength and pride that comes with belonging to a team—a group of individuals bound by a higher goal, one possible only with united pain and labor.

The eight runners from the University of Wyoming knew this pride in their team. They recognized the importance, in college and in life, of being part of something larger than themselves. As white crosses are erected on the roadside and running shoes are buried with the dead, the community in Laramie will not soon forget their loss. At the university where they lived and ran, the runners will always be remembered, as teammates.