Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A year since his high school friend was tragically killed, quarterback Travis Wilson still honors former UCLA walk-on Nick Pasquale.
Wearing a silicone yellow and blue bracelet engraved with Pasquale’s name, Wilson spoke to the media exactly a year to the day his friend was killed by a car while walking the streets of San Clemente, California.
Holding back some emotions as he spoke, Wilson said he continues to honor his friend by carrying on Pasquale’s legacy through his own career.
“I’m always playing for him,” Wilson said. “Today is actually the day he passed away, so it’s definitely a hard day for me. But I’m really happy that I get to play football and play for a bigger purpose. That purpose is also playing for him. I’m really happy that I can kinda carry on his legacy with my career. And he’ll always be with me as I’m playing.”
Wilson and Pasquale were childhood friends and teammates at San Clemente High School before going separate ways to pursue individual careers in football at Utah and UCLA.
“He was my best friend since I was 6 years old, so it’s been kind of hard these last couple of days,” Wilson said last year.
Wilson dedicated last season, in particular the game against UCLA, to his friend. Wilson played with a lot of emotions in the UCLA game and nearly brought his team back to win the game against a team that finished the season ranked No. 16 in the final AP Poll.
“He definitely taught me some great lessons, and I’ll definitely never forget about him,” Wilson said prior to the game.
