These are never easy to write, frankly I tried to write this Wednesday night after the Prayer Vigil. Maybe, it was fate that I couldn’t log in as the emotions were raw. But for myself, Wednesday night is exactly what I needed mentally.
I first met Isaiah Arrington when he was a 4th grader. I was intermittently helping coach on my sons Pittbulls team when other coaches could not make it. Several kids on our team had siblings on the grade above so we would scrimmage each other. They had the kids I write about weekly in the game recaps, Grant Karnes, Cash Archer, Kaylor Jasna, Isaiah Arrington and others. Both of our teams were close. When they moved up to Junior High that is when you got to see the beginnings of what Isaiah was going to become. Fast, sure handed, just hard working and wanting to get better. If Grant Karnes ripped a long touchdown, the next possession Isaiah was going to get one too. Then their freshman year happened and my opinion of Isaiah just being a great athlete changed.
My oldest son had come home and was telling us he was getting bullied. He is on the spectrum, but he wanted to progress, to be in regular classes. But one kid….. I posted it on Facebook not aa a complaint about the district or anything like that. Just a different angle, a let’s teach our kids to do better. It grabbed the attention of Isaiah and Cash Archer. At the Freshman game that night, they both came up to me separately and said, “We found out who it was and he will not be bullying Charlie any more.” They were right. Ever since that kid never said another word. It was the fact they stood up for him that I was taken back. This is not just a kid that plays football, but a kid that stands up for others. Isaiah made all the photographers and videographers, no matter who we were, feel like superstars. Saturday morning Instagram messages of “What pics did you get?” or “Do you have video of that one play.” I’ll miss those.
It was hard to go to an event that the football moms participated in and not see Wendy Medrano. Always there to decorate the locker room. Helping get something ready for the boys. Just whatever it took. She was a proud mom of all her kids, whether it was Emory doing something in college to Vivian looking adorable in a photo. There was always a story she had to tell. I drive by the House Collective that she owned and there was always something interesting she had acquired.
Then there is Vivian Medrano. I started working with her dad Tony Medrano in 2020 when our company expanded during AVECC’s rural fiber boom. She was the center of his world. When Isaiah played travel ball with us in Kansas City, there was that little girl following his every move. She would come out to our company functions and not have a care in the world. I’ll miss the stories from her dad when he swings by my office to catch up on what our kids are doing.
As I walked to the field Wednesday, it made everything real. The In Loving Memory on the scoreboard brought tears to my eyes. Seeing the hurt in everyone’s face made the pain that much more. But. We stood together as a community, with the family, with the team, with the friends. We became one.
A Celebration of Life Service for Wendy Medrano, Isaiah Arrington, and Vivian Medrano will be held Tuesday, November 5th at 11 A.M. in the H.B Stewart Arena on the Greenwood High School Campus.