'That's the kind of guy he was': Germantown community mourns hero coach Will Drennan

Will Drennan was a huge Arkansas Razorbacks fan. Growing up in Bartlett, and then living in East Memphis as an adult, he was often teased by his friends, who generally were Memphis Tigers, Tennessee or Ole Miss fans. But his father was a Razorbacks' fan, so Drennan was too.

"One of my memories of the house he grew up in Bartlett was walking into that garage and seeing all this Arkansas memorabilia everywhere," Matt Young, a lifelong friend of Drennan's, said. "He loved the Hogs. We would always raze him, like 'why are you such a Hog fan, you've never even been to Fayetteville.' We would just give him all kinds of mess about it."

Such memories have come flooding back for Young and others who knew Drennan, 37, who died last Tuesday when he went after a child who fell into the open storm water drainage ditch in Germantown during a heavy storm.

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He was working as a volunteer football coach when a player fell into the drainage canal that runs the length of Riverdale Park on Neshoba Road during a heavy storm. The player's father and Drennan jumped in to save him. Germantown police said the father and his son got out of the drainage ditch on the north side of Neshoba Road, but Drennan was initially unable to be found. Drennan was then located nearby and taken to Methodist Germantown Hospital, where he died.

The boy was released from the hospital and his father was treated for a minor injury.

"He was such a hero, and what he did, that's such an afterthought to me, and it shouldn't be, but it's such an afterthought because it's like, of course, he did that," Young said. "That's the kind of guy he was. He jumped in with no hesitation. He saw the danger in it I'm sure, I wasn't there on the scene, but he saw that little boy that was not in good shape, and he jumped in without hesitation and took the ultimate sacrifice."

Drennan is survived by his son, six-year-old Hayden.

Drennan's funeral arrangements are set for Tuesday, August 16th. The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. A celebration of life will immediately follow at Christ United Methodist Church on Poplar Ave. in Memphis.

"Will loved kids," Darrell Smith, a close friend of Drennan's, said. "He's extremely proud of his son, Hayden, who's a fabulous young man who loves, loved his father deeply. So when I think of it, I think the most beautiful memory is Will being around his son at his birthday party, and just how proud he was of Hayden and how much he looked forward to doing a lot of things with Hayden in the years to come.

Drennan and his ex-wife, Lauren, made a great team when it came to raising Hayden, Young said.

"It wasn't perfect, and they will admit it wasn't perfect, but they did the best possible job," Young said. "Although they weren't married, they still loved and cared for each other because they made that beautiful boy together. They were an awesome team and they're family and have been nothing but awesome through all of this."

Recently, Drennan's friends have set up a memorial fund where any money contributed will help benefit Hayden.

"We have that setup and then in lieu of flowers, they've asked for donations to a scholarship fund in Will and Hayden's name at ECS, Evangelical Christian School, where Hayden was starting his first year as a kindergartener this year," Young said.

Drennan was a big golf fan, Young said, and had volunteered at the FedEx St. Jude tournament for five years. Neither Young nor Smith were shocked when the tournament honored Drennan over the weekend at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, with more than a thousand volunteers and friends wearing purple ribbon pins on the last day of the tournament.

"That's a community tournament, it's been a community tournament since it first started back in 1958," Smith said. "So when I got the call from the executive director of  the tournament that they would like to do something on behalf of the tournament in honor of Will, I wasn't surprised because that's what is in the DNA of that place. But it means a lot."

Drennan was very involved with his community, and made friends everywhere he went. When Smith thinks about Drennan, he remembers taking their kids trick-or-treating together as well as going down to New Orleans with him and a group of friends to watch the Saints and Cowboys game.

"I think the biggest thing for me is just watching the amount of people he's impacted," Smith said. "I told our friends the other day that Will is a very versatile friend because he has friends from all walks of life. He has hunting friends, he has church friends, he has golf friends, he has high school friends, he has college friends, work friends."

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The community, and Drennan's friends, have come together to work to memorialize him. There is a petition to rename Riverdale Park after Drennan, and as of midday Monday, it has more than 5,000 signatures.

"Many of Drennan’s family and friends are still in disbelief about this tragedy and came to Riverdale Park trying to piece together what happened," the petition reads. "Drennan, the proud father to a 6-year-old boy, is now being called a hero."

Young said that even if the park itself isn't named after Drennan, they hope something, like a baseball field will be.

"His last few years, he's really been involved with the Germantown sports league," Young said. "So anyway they can commemorate him with that would be fantastic."

Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo announced Saturday that he'd directed Germantown officials to submit plans for a new, closed, underground stormwater drainage system, ahead of finalizing plans for already-approved funding to renovate the park.

"Will Drennan is a hero," Palazzolo said in the statement. "May all that we do in the days ahead be in honor of this exceptional young man."

Smith said that if he had a chance to speak with Drennan one more time, he would like to tell him good job.

"Job well done," Smith said. "The love that you had for your family, the love that you had for your friends, the love that you had for your son, made an impact on so many. We'll never understand why your time here was cut short, but we know that there's big shoes to fill and we'll continue to make sure your legacy is a lasting one."

Gina Butkovich covers DeSoto County, storytelling and general news. She can be reached at 901-232-6714  or on Twitter @gigibutko.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Germantown community mourns hero coach Will Drennan