Community Vows to Keep Playing After High School Football Player's Death

The football team at Warren Hills Regional High School in Washington Township, New Jersey, is scheduled to play its first game Saturday following the death of star quarterback Evan Murray. Murray, 17, died from a lacerated spleen after being hit in a game last Friday.

It's still unclear why his spleen was enlarged at the time of his death.

At his funeral Thursday, hundreds filled the Faith Discovery Church. Many people wore a white and blue ribbon, Warren Hill's colors, and Murray's number, 18.

Joy Miranda attended the funeral. Her son is the running back for Warren Hill's Blue Streaks, and played with Murray. Miranda said she was resolute that her son should continue playing football. "More kids should," she said. "There's nothing like a football family, just look around you, the outpouring of support has been phenomenal."

The New York Jets and Gov. Chris Christie sent condolences to the family. Even New Jersey-native Jon Bon Jovi sent a video message from his tour in the United Arab Emirates.

"As a father, and as a father of football players, my heart, my prayers, my thoughts go out to the Murray family. I'll be wearing number 18 on my guitar tonight," he said. Bon Jovi said the best way to honor Murray would be for Warren Hills to win this weekend. "Keep it up guys, all right, win one for Evan."

A memorial for Evan Murray, 17, at Warren Hill Regional High School. He is the third high school football player to die from injuries on the field this year.

(Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

In this community, Murray's death is inescapable. Car windshields are adorned with blue ribbon stickers and the number 18. There are posters in front of homes, and even under the sign announcing one is entering Washington.

Nicole Frey has been busy since Murray's death churning out Royal Blue shirts with his number on it at the town print shop. She said everyone is feeling the loss.

"We're all Warren Hills graduates, our kids are going to Warren Hills eventually, in time," she said. And she doesn't blame football for Murray's death. "It was an unfortunate accident."

The local newspaper in Washington Township, New Jersey remembering Evan.

(Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

There are over a million high school football players nationwide. Murray is the third high school football player to die on the field this year. Last year, five football players died from injuries, according to a report from The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research.

Frey said she won't stop her 10-year-old son Tyler from playing football. "Watching him out on the field and the smiles that he brings," she said. "It's being able to watch your kid just enjoy what they enjoy doing. If he wants to play, he's going to play."

Two days before he died, Murray finished a college essay for the University of Michigan. It was read at the funeral by his English teacher, and passed around at the funeral. In it he wrote about why he loved football: "Bringing everybody together for one night in the week makes me proud to be a Blue Streak, and to be a leader of the group that does it makes me feel even prouder."