A Texas school has built a statue in honor of a football player who died last year after playing in a football game.
On Friday, Joshua (Texas) Independent School District unveiled the Aaron Singleton Statue and Memorial before the district’s first home football game at Owl Stadium, according to the Cleburne Times-Review.
Singleton, 15, was a Joshua High junior varsity football player who passed away Nov. 4 after suffering a seizure during a football game in Cleburne.
Aaron Singleton
The memorial features Singleton in his football uniform kneeling upon an octagonal base. According to the Times-Review, the base represents all of the activities he was involved in, from football to baseball, from band to Boy Scouts.
After Aaron’s death, JISD Superintendent Fran Marek told the Times-Review, six students — Laura Miranda, Landon Hopkins, Erika Miranda, Megan Mankel, Hilda Sanchez and Bernard Beaton — came together to help create this project in Singleton’s honor.
The Joshua ISD board of trustees approved to build the memorial in December, at which point the students began a fundraising campaign.
“These six students felt the emptiness and heartbreak in the halls of Joshua High School that day and the weeks to follow,” Marek said, according to the Times-Review. “They could not bear it and wanted to do something about it. These students have worked diligently to complete this mission and have done a wonderful job.”
The bronze, life-size statue cost $29,900 to create. In total, including installation, the cost was roughly $45,000. Sculptor Matt Glenn of Big Statues Studio in Provo, Utah, did the handiwork.
Singleton’ mom, Cassondra, expressed gratitude and thankfulness.
“These last several months have not been easy for any of us,” Cassondra Singleton said, according to the Times-Review. “With this memorial here will be a good place to come and reflect and to talk about whatever’s on your mind that you’d like to share. I know all of y’all are a whole community and school. We’re all here for each other. That means a lot to me that we support each other in so many ways, and we’re always going to be here for each other.”
Next to the statue sits a bench in memory of another late Joshua student Cameron Pierce, who died after a car accident in April.
According to the Times-Review, members of the Singleton and Pierce families unveiled the memorial Friday as the Joshua football team released white balloons into the air. Additionally, the Spirit of JHS Band played and the school choir performed the song, “In Flanders Field.”