Friends, family shocked by death of Holliston athlete

September 6, 2008 05:03 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Sarah Gantz and Ryan Kost, Globe Correspondents

HOLLISTON -- On sheet after sheet of white paper on the walls of the entrance to the high school, students shared memories and expressed shock and a sense of loss. The outpouring came after a popular Holliston football player died suddenly Friday night after being hit in the chest during a scrimmage.

Family and friends were stunned by the death of Joseph “Joey” Larracey, 16, a junior at the school. Grief counselors met with students and the football team. Cars lined the street where Larracey lived, and people hugged in his parents' driveway, talking quietly amongst themselves.

There Larracey’s uncle, Dean Cerrati, sat on the tailgate of a pickup truck. He said Larracey was a good kid. “He was always laughing, always smiling, respectful,” he said. “Everybody says that, but he really was.”

Larracey collapsed at a football scrimmage at Apponequet Regional High School Friday after he had been hit earlier in the game, according to a statement released by the Holliston schools.

Another of Joey’s uncles, Tom Larracey, told MetroWest Daily News that Joey began to feel dizzy during a huddle. Trainers believed he had a concussion, but he was taken to the hospital when he passed out and then regained conciousness.

There, Tom Larracey said, doctors found that Joey’s lungs were full of fluid. He died shortly thereafter.

“By all accounts, Joey was a top-notch student, as well as a gifted athlete, who, judging by the hundreds of messages on our wall today was truly loved by his fellow students and by the faculty here,” said Bradford Jackson, superintendent of Holliston Public Schools. “This obviously has been an incredibly difficult day here in Holliston.”

The school was open all day for students who wanted to meet with grief counselors and will also be open tomorrow. The Town Hall also offered itself as a meeting point for students this evening.

“They can help each other by spending time together,” Jackson said. “They can help each other process this tragedy.”

The exact cause of Joey’s death is still unknown, Jackson said.

Jackson described Holliston as a tight-knit community that would come together to support one another.

“Holliston is this kind of community within suburbia where neighborhoods still have block parties, where families still go on vacation together, where kids are the nucleus of this community,” Jackson said. “It hits everybody hard.”