LATROBE, PA (93.7 The Fan) – The coach described the smile of 12-year-old Keegan Clontz, days after he tragically passed away when a house exploded in Plum on Saturday. He said how much he loved football and loved playing in the Plum youth league. His teammates were guests of the Steelers on Thursday.
“It’s amazing to see all of these Steelers come up to these boys, especially going through what they are going through right now,” Plum 11-12 head football coach Steve Kline told KDKA Radio. “It brings a big smile to my face. It’s absolutely amazing.”
Kline got an email from the Steelers earlier this week inviting the team to come as their guests. They walked the sidelines of the over two-hour practice and after it concluded, Steelers star players came over to sign autographs, take pictures and interact with them.
“It was awesome,” said Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith of being with the kids. “Just coming out here and being able to spend some time with them. I can’t imagine what they are going through. Someone to lose their life at such a young age is heartbreaking.”
“My prayers are with them and the child’s family. It’s heartbreaking, but just to be able to come out here and see the joy they have on their face today. It was so cool.”
The Plum team just started holding practices, they had one scheduled for later on Thursday. Kline said all are handling it differently, but for the most part they are all together. They got through the first practice and are getting back to a normal routine and the players were getting back to being themselves. He said they will try to keep that routine as normal as possible and go from there.
He said the coaches need the kids as much as the kids need the coaches right now. He’s glad they have this activity together as a goal to work towards.
“Football is one of those special sports,” Kline told KDKA Radio. “It’s a brotherhood. For these guys to be all together, every day, it’s going to make them a little better each day.”
You could feel the excitement from the kids after what has been a trying week. They gravitated to these players and to their credit, after over three weeks of camp, they stayed and signed everything, even giving away some of their uniform.
“One of them asked me ‘can I get your glove’?” Highsmith said “I was like, ‘I ain’t got it, they already took it’. He gave me a stare.”
Highsmith smiled and said it was all good interactions. He loved the excitement they brought.
You can imagine the emotions of this week. If for only a couple of hours the Steelers provided the distraction this team needed.