HONORING COLBY PRICE: Family of deceased Bowie teen feeling love of community

As Cody Price followed the ambulance, his experience as a volunteer firefighter in Bowie took over his thoughts.

Price observed the way the EMS vehicle drove the speed limit. He noticed the shades on the back. He realized it wasn’t using its sirens, with only the emergency lights alerting other vehicles to move out of the way.

“I knew he was gone,” Price said. “I really hoped I was reading too much into things, but I just knew he was gone.”

It’s a parent’s worst nightmare to lose a child, and it's one Cody and his wife, Lory, are currently living.

Colby Price has been described as a “genuinely good kid” who “lit up a room when he walked in.”

On Monday, Price was killed in a head-on collision with a dump truck less than a mile from his home in Bowie. Price was just 16 years old, driving his 1999 Chevy truck to work a shift at the local Sonic.

The accident occurred on State Highway 59. Cody believes his son was blinded by the sun as he turned left onto the highway. Colby was killed on impact.

But the Prices didn’t know that fact when news started circulating their son was involved in an accident.

Price’s older brother, Coleton, got a text from a friend that Colby was involved in an accident. Coleton was headed to his truck to go look at the wreck, but Cody caught him before he left, and the two went to the accident together.

An EMS worker met Cody when he arrived at the scene.

“They wouldn’t give me any details, which I understood they legally couldn’t do, but it’s a lot different when it’s your son,” Cody said. “I needed to know, but they asked me to let them work the scene, and I did.”

Meanwhile, Lory was stuck at work, relying on messages from Cody and Coleton for updates.

“I didn’t know how bad it was,” Lory said. “Then Cody called while he was following the ambulance and told me he thought Colby was gone.”

Cody’s instincts were correct. One of Bowie’s brightest lights had burned out.

“IT’S BULKING SEASON”

Colby Price was a standout football player for the Bowie Jackrabbits, like his brother and father before him.

Cody Price played for the Rabbits in the mid-90s and earned an opportunity to play college football.

“I was a knucklehead and didn’t get that opportunity for very long,” Cody said. “I’ve always been very hard on my boys because of that. I wanted both of them to have the chance to play college football at the Division I or II level on a full scholarship.”

Coleton Price earned that chance. He was a three-year standout on the offensive line for the Rabbits and signed with Baylor after graduating in 2022. Coleton red-shirted as a freshman with the Bears.

Colby Price hoped to follow in his brother’s footsteps. He was a first-team all-district performer on the defensive line during his junior season. And he was taking the offseason before his senior year very seriously.

“He was always eating,” Lory said. “He ate more than his older brother. He wasn’t as big as Coleton, but he was eating more. I would always ask him, ‘Are you really eating again?’ He’d always say, 'Hey, it’s bulking season.’ It was always bulking season. He was really trying to gain weight so he could go up another weight class in powerlifting this year.”

Colby was a leader for the Rabbits both on and off the field. And while he was jovial away from football, when it came time for practice, workouts and game days, he was all business.

“It’s a weird thing because he was loved, but he was probably hated by his teammates a little bit at the same time,” Lory said. “He wanted them to take football seriously. He was a natural leader. I’ve had so many kids who I don’t know tell me over the past couple days, ‘Your son kept me from quitting football.’”

Tragedy keeps us from knowing exactly how far Colby would have taken his dream of playing college football.

“My whole bucket list was to have my sons play with or against each other at the college level,” Cody said. “That got cut short.”

SMALL-TOWN SUPPORT

It didn’t take long for news of Monday’s tragedy to sweep through the small town of Bowie. And the community instantly shifted into support mode for one of its beloved families.

“People keep telling me they don’t have the words for me,” Lory said. “I tell them, ‘I don’t have the words for what they’re doing.’ Bowie is such an incredible town. They’ve provided food and paper goods. They even brought dog food.

“I have three very good friends putting everything together for the funeral, so that I don’t have to worry about decorating my own son’s funeral. Bowie is a phenomenal community.”

Not that this is news to the Prices. They have unfortunately experienced this type of loss before.

A little more than four years ago, Colby’s cousin, Madison Waldrip, was killed when her vehicle was struck on the driver’s side by an 18-wheeler. Waldrip was in her senior year at Bowie High School and was buried on her 18th birthday.

“It’s not something you think you’re ever going to have to live through twice,” Lory said. “Colby loved Madison. I guess if there is one comforting thing it’s knowing that they’re united together now.”

The man driving the dump truck that hit Colby was also a Bowie native, and the Prices have an endearing message for him, too.

“We have no ill will toward the individual who hit him,” Cody said. “It was a freak accident. I can’t imagine what he’s feeling right now knowing what happened.”

THE LEGACY OF NO. 72

Colby James Price was laid to rest at Elmwood Cemetery in Bowie on Friday afternoon.

But he leaves a legacy that anyone who knew him will never forget. Bowie ISD is taking measures to ensure Price’s memory will always live on with the decision to retire his jersey – No. 72.

That number is a family tradition.

It was first worn by Colby’s great grandfather in the late 1950s in Madill, Oklahoma. Colby’s grandfather donned 72 for the Bridgeport Bulls in the '70s.

Cody Price naturally asked for the number when he played for Bowie from 1994 to 1997. Coleton continued the tradition through high school.

Finally, with his older brother graduated and at Baylor, Colby got his chance to wear 72 on the varsity level.

Coleton wasn’t able to have the number during his first season at Baylor as it was owned by a senior offensive lineman. He’ll return to the No. 72 jersey next season.

But no one at Bowie will wear the number again.

“That means so much. Our kids have loved playing football for Bowie – no matter the record,” Lory said. “To know that they think Colby is as special as I think he is means so much to me.”

“It warms my heart,” Cody said. “I hate that it’s getting retired because of this situation. I was hoping it would be because one of them made it to the NFL or something. This just goes along with all the love we’re receiving from Bowie.”

No parent should have to bury their child. It’s a level of grief we hope to never experience.

“I would give anything to not have this happen,” Cody said.

But the Prices aren’t going through this alone. An entire community is surrounding them with love.

And that same community is helping keep Colby’s memory alive.

“We appreciate all the love Bowie has given us,” Cody said. “We couldn’t get through this without it.”

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: HONORING COLBY PRICE: Family of slain Bowie teen feeling love of community