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The first recipient of the Knightly Warrior Award is deeply honoured to receive the trophy.
However, he wishes it never had to be given away in the first place.
Erik Lee was awarded the Knightly Warrior trophy at the Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) Knights’ football banquet on Dec. 4 at DeWinton Hall. The award goes to a football player dedicated to teamwork and community and is in honour of four Grande Prairie Warrior football players who were killed when the vehicle they were traveling in was hit by a drunk driver.
“It means a lot to me — it is really an honour,” said Lee, a centre for the Knights. “That trophy was dedicated to those four kids from Grande Prairie. It is beyond words. They lost everything and I have my name on the same trophy as them.
“It is pretty big.”
The trophy was sponsored by the HTA chapter of Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD).
Lee is a Grade 12 student at Notre Dame Collegiate in High River. With one of the biggest parties of a young adult’s life just around the corner with graduation, the message about drinking and driving has hit Lee harder than a charging Rundle College linebacker.
“It does hit close to home,” Lee said of the four youths killed. “I agree totally with the message. I definitely won’t be drinking and driving.”
The trophy was the brainchild of HTA teacher and former football coach Jason Olynyk and HTA SADD member Victoria Kuefler.
“What SADD is about is to stop drinking and driving and I love football,” Olynyk said, who played for the Saskatchewan Huskies. “We brainstormed about it quite a bit and Victoria came up with this great idea.”
Olynyk has been hit hard with drinking and driving — he lost his best friend who was killed by a drunk driver while he was in high school. He also lost a colleague while teaching in Bermuda due to drinking and driving.
In Bermuda it was his friend who got behind the wheel after having too much to drink.
The award is also being given at the Grande Prairie Awards banquet. In fact, the first four recipients of the award are the football players who were taken by a drunk driver in October 2011. They are Walter Borden-Wilkins, 15, Tanner Hildebrand, 15, Matthew Deller, 16, and Vince Stover, 16.
Kuefler said it is important to remember the four Warriors.
“We wanted some way to continue on their memory —not just remember the incident,” Kuefler said. “I’m not a football person. These young people who were killed had value — they had their whole futures ahead of them.
“We have no idea what kind of talent was lost on that day… We don’t want the same thing happening in our community.”
Holy Trinity Academy Knights head coach Matt Hassett was fighting back tears at the awards banquet in DeWinton when talking about the award.
He told the approximately 100 people in attendance he has coached with and against Grande Prairie Warriors coach Rick Gilson.
“I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to lose four players,” Hassett said.
HTA students have chosen to keep Students Against Drunk Driving rather than other double D’s such as Distracted Driving or Dangerous Decisions which other clubs have adopted.
