Likas | Tragic deaths of Prairie Central standouts generate stirring support

Mar. 26—The unexpected death of any young person is certain to elicit an outpouring of emotion from and support toward those who knew and loved that individual.

That concept doesn't even begin to cover what's transpired around Prairie Central High School in the past week.

Seniors Dylan Bazzell and Drew Fehr, two familiar and popular kids in Fairbury and its surrounding communities, died last Sunday in a tragic Colorado sledding accident. Bazzell was 18 years old. Fehr was 17 years old.

The accident happened at Copper Mountain Ski Resort in the Rocky Mountains, while the two were on spring break with other classmates. It's a facility I've skied at myself, on spring break trips and other vacations.

That, paired with having multiple past opportunities to speak with both Bazzell and Fehr about Prairie Central athletics, makes this accident even more chilling and heart-wrenching.

But any emotions going through my head when thinking about these two stellar student-athletes and young men pale in comparison to what their families, close friends and fellow community members are battling through.

Just look at the "Memory Wall" near Lewis Field, Prairie Central's football stadium. Bazzell, a wide receiver and defensive back, and Fehr, a running back and linebacker, helped the Hawks compile an 11-1 record last fall en route to an appearance in the Class 3A playoffs.

Two large pictures of Bazzell and Fehr are in the middle of the emotional display, imposed against white backdrops and fastened to a wall of the same color.

Bazzell is spinning a basketball on his finger. Fehr is holding a football and Prairie Central football helmet. Both images were taken within The News-Gazette's office in Champaign earlier this school year when the pair stopped by for various media opportunities. Surrounding those images are written messages, photos, drawings, small flower arrangements and anything else someone wanted to share that connects them with one or both of these boys.

One item is a small, framed piece of poster board bearing the phrase "MORE THAN A RIVALRY" along with 17 signatures.

It was created and delivered by members of the Pontiac boys' basketball team, which played three hotly contested games against Bazzell, Fehr and the Prairie Central boys' basketball program on Dec. 16, Jan. 20 and March 3, with the last game happening in front of a sold-out crowd at Herscher in a Class 2A sectional title game.

Sunday's N-G sports cover features @clikasNG's tribute to @PCHS_Hawks seniors Dylan Bazzell and Drew Fehr, who died last Sunday in a tragic sledding accident in Colorado.@APSE_sportmedia@ngphotostaff pic.twitter.com/uwfBz938s2

— News-Gazette Preps (@ngpreps) March 26, 2023

The Hawks were on spring break each of the five weekdays that immediately followed the deaths of Bazzell and Fehr. This led to multiple gatherings at different spots around the area, including the church each young man attended.

Those gatherings and the "Memory Wall" have been joined by support from beyond Prairie Central's traditional boundaries.

Multiple area school districts have encouraged or will encourage the wearing of the Hawks' Columbia blue, navy and white color scheme during school days.

Staff at Mahomet-Seymour High School and Mahomet-Seymour Junior High were among those donning those colors on Friday.

Officials at Monticello, an Illini Prairie Conference cohort of Prairie Central, announced they will raise funds for the Bazzell and Fehr families this week from Monday and Thursday by way of collecting monetary donations and hosting bake sales.

And the number of heartfelt messages flooding social media spaces is too large to count.

Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin boys' basketball coach Gary Tidwell is a longtime family friend of the Bazzell family. He attended Prairie Central High School with Dylan's father, Darin, as both starred on the Hawks' boys' basketball team that placed second in state in Class A in 1990.

Tidwell described the cumulative response to the boys' deaths as "pretty amazing" in its scope, adding that the close-knit Hawks community he's familiar with "will definitely pull these families through this dark time."

According to Andrew Quain, formerly the boys' high school football coach with the Hawks and also a counselor at the school, this all is a testament to just what sort of effect Bazzell and Fehr left on people.

"They were friends with such a wide amount of our students," Quain said. "Everybody felt like, 'You could be friends with those guys.'"

Many, especially outside the Prairie Central community, knew the two personally or knew about them through sports.

Both were three-sport standouts with the Hawks. Bazzell is a former News-Gazette boys' basketball and boys' track and field All-Area first-team selection. Fehr earned the same distinction in track and field. Bazzell was named to The Associated Press Class 2A all-state boys' basketball first team on March 8.

Quain describes the two young men as exceedingly gracious with their free time, noting how Bazzell and Fehr were quick to appease young fans who wanted an autograph after a football or basketball game.

"Two days after they lost to Pontiac, they were over at the Baptist Church (for) a youth basketball game," Quain said. "They went over there to hand out awards to those kids, and they stayed and signed autographs for an hour and a half after that event."

Both the Bazzells and the Fehrs are institutions as families in the Fairbury area. Each boy's mom is a teacher in the school district. Darin Bazzell is the Hawks' boys' basketball coach.

"Darin over the years, he's always been excited about being able to coach his own kids," said Tidwell, also referencing Dylan's older brother, Trey, who currently plays basketball at Illinois Wesleyan University. "It was really neat personally just to see their success and see highlights on the news when Dylan had a great game.

"To see that joy and hear the joy in (Darin's) voice when I talked to him earlier this year ... I know it meant a lot to him."

Dylan Bazzell and Fehr both were scheduled to compete in Saturday's Class 2A Top Times indoor track and field meet, viewed as the unofficial IHSA indoor state meet and held at the Shirk Center in Bloomington.

Randy Anderson, the man in charge of Top Times, opted against filling Bazzell's spots in the high jump and 60-meter hurdles, as well as Fehr's spot in the pole vault.

Prairie Central gear was laid in Bazzell's lane Saturday prior to his 60 hurdles preliminary race. The same tribute was performed in the high jump area for Bazzell and the pole vault area for Fehr.

Bazzell was supposed to position himself in lane five for the 60 hurdles' third of three preliminary heats. His Prairie Central teammate, sophomore Hudson Ault, was stationed in lane seven of the same heat.

"I feel for him, having to go through that by himself now," Quain said of Ault prior to the meet.

Bazzell and Fehr were IHSA 2A boys' track and field state medalists as juniors last spring. Bazzell placed second in the high jump and eighth in the 110 hurdles. Fehr ranked third in the pole vault.

Funeral arrangements for Bazzell and Fehr have been set up and publicized, with visitation for Bazzell to take place from 2-8 p.m. Sunday and 10-10:45 a.m. Monday at the First Baptist Church in Fairbury before his funeral services at 11 a.m. Monday at First Baptist.

Fehr's visitation is scheduled for 1-7 p.m. on Tuesday at First Baptist, with funeral services to follow at the church at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

One immediate struggle for the collective Prairie Central family, especially those at the high school, is trying to move forward with typical activities in the wake of the boys' deaths and the conclusion of spring break.

Quain said extra counselors will be on hand at the high school, along with some psychologists and grief dogs.

"It's going to be felt at every event. Prom is going to be felt, and our senior awards and senior athletic awards that we do," Quain said. "It's going to linger a little bit longer for many of us.

"The firsts are going to be the hardest. The first day back at school is going to be hard. It's going to be hard at the visitations and funerals. The first track meet. ... (But) I feel confident to say that Drew and Dylan would've, if it was one of their friends, wanted people to move on, and they would tell people to move on and continue doing the things we love to do."