Estimated read time: 3-4 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
STANSBURY PARK — The Stansbury High School boys basketball team has special plans in store to support their archrival school after the tragic death of Tooele High School varsity and junior varsity basketball player Jayden Davis.
Tooele community supporting family of teen who drowned in reservoir
The Tooele community is coming together to support the family of a 14-year-old boy who drowned after falling through ice at Settlement Canyon Reservoir.It comes as the Tooele High team makes its own tribute for Jayden, through a video put together by Paul Simmons and his son, Ethan — a Tooele High varsity player.
The video shows pictures and videos of Jayden on the football field and basketball court. One of the videos shows Jayden jumping up to chest-bump a teammate as they celebrate a recent win against Stansbury. People run out onto the court, jumping up and down. Jayden joins the crowd, giving out hugs.
That was the last time the two teams played each other.
On Wednesday, the Stansbury JV and varsity teams got together ahead of their last game of the season Thursday.
They were very aware that Tooele High had to cancel its last game of the season because of Jayden's death. The game was supposed to be on Tuesday. The team they were supposed to play against, Payson High School, made a three-hour roundtrip drive to deliver a handmade and signed poster to show support and love.
"It's all around been a very emotional week for everyone," said Tobi Johnson, a Stansbury High sophomore who plays on both the varsity and JV teams.
As Stansbury's team looked ahead toward its last game — which is also against Payson — an idea came up to honor Jayden. Sophomore Aidan Pehrson, who also plays varsity and JV basketball, said everyone was on board with wearing their rival team's color purple.
"The rivalry goes out the door," he said. "You just can't feel sorry enough for those kids."
Aidan's uncle designed and printed special T-shirts honoring Jayden, that include his initials and jersey numbers along with a version of the "Forever and forever in Tooele" — a slogan from Tooele High's fight song. It says, "Forever and Forever In Our Hearts."
The team will wear those T-shirts during warmup.
The T-shirts are nearly identical to ones available to the community as part of a fundraiser* for Jayden's family.
The Stansbury coaches invited Tooele High varsity players and coaches to stand with them on the court during the national anthem.
The team will also wear purple socks and purple tape around their wrists with Jayden's jersey numbers, and Aidan said the student section will also wear purple.
Tobi joked that if someone told the Stansbury team two weeks ago that they'd be wearing purple at their home game, he'd call them crazy.
'He was making a difference': Grandfather remembers Tooele teen who fell through ice
The grandfather of the Tooele teen who died after falling into ice at a reservoir says his grandson was a natural-born leader who always wanted to learn and achieve.But after Jayden's death, Stansbury High junior and JV and varsity player Dylan Giles expressed how it wasn't a second thought.
"It's competitive in the game, but then once something like that happens it's like everybody realizes that there's so much more than basketball to life," he said.
Tobi and Aidan also knew Jayden personally. Tobi said Jayden used to be his neighbor, and his brother played on the same football team as Jayden. Jayden's mom cuts Aidan's hair, and through that he got to know Jayden as a friend.
They talked just hours before everything changed Monday.
"It's crazy because I'm texting him that morning saying, 'I'm so excited to play some AAU basketball. Put a team together, it's going to be so fun,'" Aidan said. "We've got all these young guys, like this is really cool what we've got going."
Knowing their friend is gone too soon, and a fellow team hurting, they'll be showing how basketball can unite everyone together.
"I hope they know that we love them at the end," Tobi said. "We're trying to feel for them, we're trying to be there for them."
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
