VALDOSTA —
The past two days have been a difficult time for the Lowndes Vikings.
The news that former football standout Ed Christian was shot and killed Saturday night while attempting to break up a fight in Auburn, Ala. ripped a giant hole into the community.
“I was shocked about it,” said Lowndes head coach Randy McPherson, who spoke with the Times on Monday. “As one of the coaches said this morning, he hadn’t even really started to live his life yet. It is a sad deal. He was just getting started.”
Christian, who was one of three men shot and killed Saturday night at the University Heights Apartment complex, was a member of Lowndes’ 2007 state championship team. Christian was a member of the team’s offensive line, which was known as the ‘Mayflower Movers.’
“He was a big part of our success when he played here,” McPherson said. “He was a very physical player. He was a great football player.”
Although Christian’s football talent was widely known, to McPherson, and other members of the
community, it will be Christian’s outgoing and friendly personality that
will always be remembered and missed.
“Just the overall goodness of Ed Christian, as a person, how he treated everyone else — young kids, old kids, coaches,” McPherson said. “He was solid.”
“He was one of those players that would hang out here in the coaches’ office with us. He’d get here early, hang out, and just like to be around. Everyone loved him. It didn’t matter. He was never in any kind of trouble. We are going to miss him.”
On Monday, McPherson told the Times that he received a phone call from Auburn head football coach Gene Chizik, who said Christian was doing nothing wrong and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time on Saturday.
“He assured me that Ed wasn’t involved in anything wrong at Auburn,” McPherson said. “He was just standing at the wrong spot at the wrong time.”
Although Christian is no longer a member of the Tigers’ football team, as a result of a back injury that he suffered his redshirt freshman season, he was still working towards earning his college degree from the university.
“He really liked Auburn, from the day he visited there until now,” McPherson said. “Coach Chizik told me that he was still coming to study halls, like everybody else on the team, still pursuing his degree and was doing well in school.”
As of Monday, nothing had been planned by McPherson and his coaching staff to honor Christian this upcoming season, but McPherson said “it will happen. We are going to have to do something.”
Alabama state and federal authorities were still on the search for suspect Desmonte Leonard, 22, on Monday night. Leonard will be charged with three counts of capital murder when he is arrested.
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