BG
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For JSU football coach, death of wife a loss like no other
Billy Watkins • [email protected] • October 11, 2009
They had driven 10 1/2 hours, from Jackson to Cincinnati. Only 53 miles remained to their destination of Xenia, Ohio, when the oldies radio station played a song Jackson State University head football coach Rick Comegy had heard a thousand times - the 1971 Bill Withers hit, Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone.
This time he listened to the lyrics. Every word felt like a knife to the heart.
... Ain't no sunshine when she's gone/only darkness every day/ain't no sunshine when she's gone/and this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away ...
A family friend was driving Comegy and his 15-year-old son Rick Jr. to a hometown memorial service for Comegy's wife of 25 years, Connie, who died June 22 of cancer. She was 54.
In the passenger seat, Comegy wanted to let it all out. Cry. Scream. Kick. Punch the dash.
"But I couldn't let Rick Jr. see me like that," he says.
As the song played, Comegy reminisced about the woman he had noticed in a grocery store 31 years earlier and made sure he went through the same checkout line so he could introduce himself.
" ...and I know, I know, I know, I know, I know ... "
Connie seemed to know everything. She could take a child's toy out of a box and put it together in a blink. She bought the couple's houses and cars, paid the bills, balanced the checkbook, homeschooled Rick Jr. She was a brilliant, well-read woman who devoted her life to raising five children and running the household so Comegy could focus on football.
"The woman could do anything," Comegy says. "One time we were driving along and the muffler fell off the car. Well, she got out, got down on her knees and started seeing about it. Finally, I got down on my knees, too, just so the people in the passing cars would think I was down there doing something."
Comegy, who has led JSU to SWAC East Division titles the past two seasons, will tell you unashamedly that Connie's death knocked him back to his knees and he's still trying to get up, with football season in full gear.
"See, here's the thing," he says, sitting in his office with dozens of football diagrams covering his desk. "I wasn't just married to Connie. I was in love with her."
Entire Article
Billy Watkins • [email protected] • October 11, 2009
They had driven 10 1/2 hours, from Jackson to Cincinnati. Only 53 miles remained to their destination of Xenia, Ohio, when the oldies radio station played a song Jackson State University head football coach Rick Comegy had heard a thousand times - the 1971 Bill Withers hit, Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone.
This time he listened to the lyrics. Every word felt like a knife to the heart.
... Ain't no sunshine when she's gone/only darkness every day/ain't no sunshine when she's gone/and this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away ...
A family friend was driving Comegy and his 15-year-old son Rick Jr. to a hometown memorial service for Comegy's wife of 25 years, Connie, who died June 22 of cancer. She was 54.
In the passenger seat, Comegy wanted to let it all out. Cry. Scream. Kick. Punch the dash.
"But I couldn't let Rick Jr. see me like that," he says.
As the song played, Comegy reminisced about the woman he had noticed in a grocery store 31 years earlier and made sure he went through the same checkout line so he could introduce himself.
" ...and I know, I know, I know, I know, I know ... "
Connie seemed to know everything. She could take a child's toy out of a box and put it together in a blink. She bought the couple's houses and cars, paid the bills, balanced the checkbook, homeschooled Rick Jr. She was a brilliant, well-read woman who devoted her life to raising five children and running the household so Comegy could focus on football.
"The woman could do anything," Comegy says. "One time we were driving along and the muffler fell off the car. Well, she got out, got down on her knees and started seeing about it. Finally, I got down on my knees, too, just so the people in the passing cars would think I was down there doing something."
Comegy, who has led JSU to SWAC East Division titles the past two seasons, will tell you unashamedly that Connie's death knocked him back to his knees and he's still trying to get up, with football season in full gear.
"See, here's the thing," he says, sitting in his office with dozens of football diagrams covering his desk. "I wasn't just married to Connie. I was in love with her."
Entire Article
Especially that part where Rick Jr. is obviously being picked on at school because of the losses. :shame: May God continue to give him and his son the strength they need through this continued trying time.
