Lost Marine’s lasting gift

He once served as the punter for the undermanned Boston Latin School football team, and “he wasn’t actually a good punter,’’ said his teammate, Dan Weissman. “But he had this can-do attitude. I never heard him say he couldn’t do anything. He always believed he could get the job done.’’

There was one thing Duran, who graduated from the school in 2002, could not do: Cheat death in Iraq.

Army Sergeant Duran was killed in Iraq in 2007, a victim of a roadside bomb that exploded while he was picking up supplies. He was 24.

Tomorrow night his friends and classmates will gather at Boston Teachers Union Hall to remember his life, and to work on commemorating it. They are planning to raise money for a college scholarship to be awarded annually to a Boston Latin senior.

Lynne Mooney Teta, the headmaster at Boston Latin, said the school fully supports the plan to honor Duran. She said endowed scholarships in honor of graduates is a tradition that stretches back for centuries; there are still scholarships in memory of Benjamin Franklin and Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.

Mooney Teta, who has run her alma mater for three years, said she does not know of any other Latin graduate who has fallen in the Iraq war.

The scholarship effort is “wonderful,’’ she said. “When tragedy strikes, members of our community - alumni and family members - often seek to memorialize them through scholarships for current students.’’

Duran’s friends and classmates will have to raise $50,000 to permanently endow a scholarship.

The criteria for the award would be largely up the committee raising the money, the headmaster said, with the first scholarship awarded shortly before graduation next spring, at the school’s annual “Prize Night.’’

Duran was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in Roxbury.

In high school he juggled his studies with part-time jobs at New England Aquarium and Abercrombie & Fitch, and found time to play football and run track.

He planned to become a college math teacher after completing his second tour of duty in Iraq. He served a total of four years in the Army.

He was a memorable figure, known for both his toughness and his playfulness. Duran was nicknamed “Superman’’ and slept - as an adult - under Man of Steel sheets and in Superman T-shirts. He served in the 82d Airborne Division, though friends say he seldom talked about his military experiences on his trips home on leave. He was known to return home unannounced, just to surprise his family and friends.

It isn’t known what led him to enlist in the military after Latin.

“Without speaking for him, I think that’s just pretty much who he was,’’ said Stephanie Maneikis, a classmate and a member of the scholarship committee. “He was a person of character who wanted to give back.’’

If his classmates have their way, the scholarship will not be the only recognition Duran receives.

The halls at Latin are dotted with plaques recognizing graduates who have fallen in every war since the Revolution, and they want Duran to join their number. Mooney Teta said the school is all for it.

The idea for the Duran Scholarship began when a current Latin student wanted to do a report on Duran’s life and contacted his classmates.

That led to the realization that something should be done to celebrate a quiet warrior whose peers revere him not for his words but for his strength, commitment, and dedication.

“Our basic goal is just to find a way to make sure that 20 or 30 years from now, people still know his name and what a special person he was,’’ Maneikis said.

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.