home > news > sports

UConn Football Team Gathers to Bury Their Friend, Classmate

By Susan Goodman and Amanda Raus

| Monday, Oct 26, 2009 | Updated 12:44 PM EST

UConn Football Team Gathers to Bury Their Friend, Classmate

UConn football players arrive for the funeral services of cornerback Jasper Howard in Miami on Monday. Howard was fatally stabbed outside a dance on Connecticut's campus.

With each man carrying a single white rose, tied with a blue ribbon, the University of Connecticut football team walked into a church in Jasper Howard's hometown of Miami.

Early Monday morning, the entire UConn football team boarded buses to start their journey to bury fellow player and classmate, Jasper Howard.

It was clear as players arrived just before 5 a.m. that they were having a difficult time. None felt like talking as they grabbed some breakfast and boarded three buses headed for Bradley airport. Coach Edsall would meet them there to travel the rest of the way to Miami, where Jasper Howard grew up and will be buried.

The team had an emotional weekend.

On Saturday, the band played as the buses carrying the UConn Huskies pulled into campus after a long day in West Virginia. The team played its first game since the tragic death of their teammate, Jasper Howard.

"Since this is the first game since it happened, I'm sure the whole team is having a hard time," said Greg Darling, a student at UConn.

So when the Huskies took the field in West Virginia, they also had dozens of their fellow students cheering them on back home in the UConn Student Union. Two posters with Howard's number six stood beside the screen.

"We thought it was important to come together as a community, as a school to watch it together. The unity here at UConn has increased dramatically in the past week, and it's been incredible to see the school come together like that," said Peter Gaibrois, a student at UConn.

Students say this was more than a football game, this was a way to honor Howard, the man who put his heart into Husky football. They say this season will be different for the team. They'll now be playing for something more than the win.

"Now they want to play for him; they want to win for him; they want to play their hearts out because that's what he did; they want to give him a memorial by playing their best game," said Chelsea Lepus, a student at UConn.

UConn students say it doesn't matter that the Huskies lost this game. They are so proud of the team for getting out there and fighting and playing to honor Jasper Howard.

Howard was stabbed to death in front of the student union early on October 18. Police have not yet charged anyone with the stabbing.

---

You can watch funeral services from New Birth Baptist Church here at 11 a.m.