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Season Dedicated To Fallen Teammate (New!) September 15, 2004 WAYLAND - It's early in the season for the Wayland Union H.S. Football team, and players are dealing with their biggest loss.Tailback Donta Collins died in a car accident Saturday afternoon. On Friday night, Collins rushed for more than a hundred yards, and scored a 73-yard touchdown in the Wildcats game against Middleville.Less than 24 hours later, he was dead, thrown from a car in an accident not far from where he lived with his grandparents.Friends returned to the scene Wednesday, 104th Street and Clyde Park, to remember Donta. Classmates say he was one of a kind. Melissa Keeney told FOX 17 News at Ten, "He had a lot of friends but he didn't just like hang out with certain people, he talked to everyone."Donta, a junior that wore #32, worked hard over the past year to get in shape for football, as well as the classroom. Those who knew him say he had an amazing smile and optimistic attitude.Wayland Athletic Director Cheri Ritz says hearing the news of his death "was difficult for all of us, it was one of those situations where you don't want to believe that this is really happening."The team prepared for their next game against Caledonia Wednesday afternoon. It's been resheduled for Saturday at 7:00 p.m. giving students time to grieve after Donta's funeral Friday afternoon.The team is dedicating Saturday's game, and the rest of this season, to Donta's memory.Cheri Ritz says, "We are going to put on each players helmet a football and it's going to have number 32 and DC in the football."Police say the driver of the car Donta was in lost control; three other people with him had only minor injuries. Donta was the only one not wearing a seat belt. Copyright � 2004, WXMI-TV, Grand Rapids
Wayland teammates, friends struggle with death of Collins Tuesday, September 14, 2004 By Jane BosThe Grand Rapids Press Jerry Diorio stood on the sidelines of the Wayland High School practice football field and pointed to a spot. "The snappers and quarterbacks, they would be working out right here," the first-year coach said during Monday's practice. "Over there, the punters and kickers would be working out. Normally, things would be pretty lively right about now. Guys would be yelling, talking, laughing." But no one associated with the Wildcats football team -- and almost everyone at the high school -- is feeling normal today. When your star tailback, one of the most popular kids in school, is no longer there, nothing feels right. Ater discovering that Donta Collins, a 5-foot-10, 185-pound junior, was killed in a car accident, his fellow players and classmates faced something tougher than a relentless blitz. And at practice, they talked softly, their shoulders sagging under the weight of balloon-sized pads and a burden no 16- or 17-year-old kid should know how to handle. Life and death. Wins and losses. They do not equate. The athletes and students at Wayland High School, whose football team is 0-3, learned a lesson in loss -- real loss -- this weekend when the car Collins was riding in careened out of control. Collins, the only one of four persons in the car not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the back seat. He was the only one to die. By early evening Saturday, family and friends and fellow classmates arrived at the site of the accident, Clyde Park SW, just south of 104th Street. They gathered to remember and ask why. The same thing happened Monday morning at Wayland High School. Signs and notes and T-shirts bearing Collins' likeness filled the walls and lined the lockers. Something was missing from the hallways. The Wildcats did not want to forget. "No one ever expected the main character in the story to die," said classmate and friend Angela Chlebana. "There is not a person in this school who didn't know him, who didn't like him. What are we going to do without him?" It was a question asked all around town this weekend. And again on Monday. The question, how to go on without Collins, will be asked again and again. His grandparents, with whom he lived with in Dorr, will wonder about life without their first grandchild. His mother in Grand Rapids, Janet Collins, who he was going to visit Saturday, will ask. Answers are the difficult part. Those who knew him at school and on the football field, though, are doing what they can to find that answer. "We really don't know what to do, so we are pretty much dedicating the season to him," said Wildcat senior captain and quarterback Adam Gensler. "We are going to go on and play. That is what Donta would have wanted us to do. He was a big part of this team. It will be different without him. But everyone wants to do this for him." After an 0-3 start to the season -- and another big game ahead Friday against visiting rival Caledonia -- the Wildcats thought they knew about tough losses. "We are going to play a lot harder this week, for the rest of the year," said Chris Lee, Collins' fellow backfield member and a senior. "He was the kind of player who pushed you to be better. Not that he was pushy; you just wanted to be as good as he was. I was always trying to keep up with him." Collins, who was pulled up to the varsity late last season, had the ability to push. He started in the two playoff games a year ago. And in the season-ender to East Grand Rapids, the eventual Division 3 state champions, he scored a touchdown. After missing the first half of the first game of this season, he rebounded with about 80 yards in the second game. Then Friday night, during a disappointing 22-13 loss to Middleville, Collins racked up 124 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown run. "Friday's game was a break-out game for Donta," Diorio said. "He was not just starting to become a good running back, he was starting to develop into a premier-type running back." After Friday's game, Collins bunked at Lee's house. "It's something I will never forget," Lee said. Added another friend and fellow football player Brian Gill: "Donta had one of the biggest smiles I ever saw in my life. He made something positive out of everything. We are going to miss him." Now the Wildcats are searching to make something positive out of the rest of the season. The team plans to dedicate the remaining games to Collins. They will frame his white No. 32 jersey in the locker room for inspiration. They will wear the No. 32 on the back of their helmets. There will be a moment of silence before Friday's game. "It's been a very tough year so far," Diorio said, "but this puts it all in perspective." Collins will be missed. The signs in the cafeteria, painted in white on the window panes, will fade. The large "32" scribbled in larger-than-life green on the lockers in the senior's hallway will eventually rub off. That red rose sent to senior Kacey Frank, a former girlfriend and forever friend of Collins, will dry up. But their memory, their meaning, will live on forever
Danta' Terrill Collins COLLINS - Danta' Terrill Collins, aged 16, son of Janet Marie Collins and Derrick Jon Jemison, passed away September 11, 2004. Besides his parents he leaves behind his grandparents, Martin and Debora Collins; siblings, Derrick Jon Jemison, Jr., Kevin Collins, and Ka'Mara Gibson; and many other family members. Services will held Friday, 1 p.m., at Messiah Baptist Church, 513 Henry, family hour starting at Noon until service time. Repast will take place at Renaissance Church, 1001 33rd St. SE, after the services. Published in the Grand Rapids Press on 9/16/2004.
Wayland honors Collins' memory Monday, September 20, 2004 By Steve Vedder The Grand Rapids Press When Wayland superintendent Eivor Swan prepared a motivational handout in mid-August on the value of attitude to be distributed among the school system's teachers, she never thought one would wind up in a student's locker. Swan's hope was that teachers would grasp the handout's message -- which made the point that people are in charge of their own attitudes -- and pass it along to their students. She never thought a copy of the message would be discovered in the locker of 16-year-old Donta Collins, a popular member of Wayland's football team who made the school's honor roll and whose goal was to one day produce a record. But a copy of the message was found in Collins' locker by school officials days after he was killed in a tragic car accident Sept. 11. While Swan was attempting to motivate teachers with the message, she was touched to know that Collins, who had worked hard to turn his life around, had taken the words to heart by incorporating them into his own life. "We had hoped to reach students through teachers, but to know that Donta put a copy in his locker, it's touched my heart," said Swan during Saturday's somber Caledonia-Wayland football game that included fund-raisers which raised thousands of dollars in Collins' memory, kids and adults alike dressed in T-shirts adorned with Collins' name and football jersey No. 32 on the back, a ceremonial releasing of balloons and a moment of silence. "It's something I'll never forget. But in talking to people about Donta, he had that kind of attitude. We're proud of him because other students respected him. He was an integral part of the school." That was easily the prevailing attitude at a subdued Stehouwer Stadium Saturday as thousands of fans paid homage to Collins, who was thrown from a car when it careened out of control on Clyde Park Avenue SW, south of 104th Street, shortly before 4 a.m. on Sept. 11. The Kent County Sheriff's Department is still investigating the accident, but it stunned and saddened the Wayland community, said teachers, administrators and friends of Collins at the football game, which the Wildcats rallied to win 26-22 for their first victory of the season. Wayland athletic director Cheri Ritz said it didn't surprise her that a copy of Swan's intended memo to teachers found its way to Collins. It also doesn't surprise Ritz that Collins had the ability and desire to translate positive messages into action. "We were cleaning out Donta's locker and saw a copy of the (superintendent's) message and I just shook my head and said, 'Look who put it in his notebook,' " Ritz said. "It didn't surprise me. Some people would read something like that and go, 'oh.' But Donta put it in his notebook because it meant something to him." A community's respect and grief swept all over Wayland's football stadium Saturday. For instance, Wayland senior Brad Moelker helped organize about 20 classmates in a fund-raiser that included selling balloons and T-shirts printed with Collins' likeness and his jersey No. 32. The students greeted fans coming into the stadium and wound up raising nearly $2,000 to give to the Collins family. It was discovered later that one unknown donator had quietly slipped four $100 bills into one of the group's plastic containers. The students followed the work of numerous Wayland businesses in raising thousands of dollars prior to Saturday's football game. "Everyone knew him and not just because of sports," Moelker said of Collins, who died less than 24 hours after rushing for more than 100 yards against Middleville. "You couldn't bring him down -- he saw good in everything. He was an all-around good guy." Those sentiments were echoed among Wayland administrators such as principal Tom Cutler, who said Collins' death brought an entire community together to grieve. "It was his smile and sense of humor that drew people to him," Cutler said. "Once you met him, you assumed you were a friend of his. That's just the way he was." Ritz said the week leading to Saturday's football game was tough, including the funeral on Friday. Ritz said many people knew Collins because of his promising football career, but Ritz said many didn't realize how well-rounded Collins was. He also played basketball and ran track, participated in the middle school's talent show, had an outstanding singing voice and took initial steps toward producing a record by spending time in New York this summer. Ritz said the school was shattered by the news of Collins' death. She said football coach Jerry Diorio did a remarkable job in keeping the football team pointed in the right direction last week. "They had a relationship that a lot of people didn't realize," Ritz said. "Not only was Donta a good athlete, he was a good student. It was important to Donta that he get good grades." The community's reaction to Collins' death touched the Collins family. Donta's father, Derrick Collins, said the family considered moving to several West Michigan communities before settling on Wayland. Still, he couldn't believe the outpouring of affection at the football game. "Thirty-nine years in my life and I've never seen anything like this. To be 16 years old and seem so important to a school is a great thing," he said. "We're proud of him and the community. His mother and I feel like we're blessed to have had him. For 16 years we did have him."
