MGCCC football playing the rest of season in honor of Levi Madison
The Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College football team is back at practice following the tragic passing of Levi Madison on Friday.
Following the team’s return to campus after their game at Hinds Community College, the freshman defensive lineman and two teammates were involved in a single-car accident in Wiggins.
In the early morning hours of September 24th, Madison succumbed to the injuries he sustained in the accident.
Only a few days removed from the tragedy, the Bulldogs are still trying to navigate the loss on and off the field.
MGCCC Defensive End Deven Wright said, “When I heard the news, I was in the parking lot because actually I was supposed to meet with Levi when he was coming back, but I called him. It’s a call that he never got.”
Sunday night, the Gulf Coast family held a private memorial service followed by a fire lantern release at the Perkinston campus during which teammates, coaches, and friends had the chance to tell their favorite Levi stories. “He was a big guy, like really big guy, intimidating looking. When you get to know Levi, you’ll know that he’s not an aggressive guy or anything like that. He was more like a teddy bear. And Levi, one of my good friends and he was a great guy on the field, but I feel like this will be an even bigger loss off the field because Levi’s personality was gold.”
Some of the most routine activities for the Bulldogs, like watching film on Friday, the day after their game, have become a painful reminder of the teammate they lost too soon. MGCCC Head Coach Jack Wright said,”We just played a college football game. Everybody wants to watch the film the next morning. You know what happened, what did we do good, what did we do bad. And every time we watch a play, there’s Levi. You know he was out there playing, giving it his all for Gulf Coast, giving it his all for his teammates, and then there he is and all of the sudden now Friday morning watching the film he’s not with us anymore.”
Two former Coast high school football players. Freshman offensive lineman Brandon Cunningham from St. Martin and sophomore running back Cam Thomas from Picayune, were also involved in the accident.
Thomas was uninjured. Cunningham is currently in Jackson, receiving treatment. After waiting for swelling to go down, Cunningham had surgery Monday morning. St. Martin Head Coach Eddie Wayne Whitehead said, “No doubt it’s going to take, the recovery is going to take a long time. But hope that he keeps a positive attitude, which he’s always had, keeps his head up. I know it’s a tough period when you lose a friend and you were involved in it, so it’s going to be tough mentally as well as a physical overcoming.”
Picayune Head Coach Cody Stogner, who was the Maroon Tide offensive coordinator Thomas’ senior year when he led the nation in more than 3,500 yards rushing, said the squad took a collective deep breath when they were told Thomas was okay. “When we heard the news, we were worried, worried about Cam. You know, we consider ourselves family over here in Picayune and he meant a lot to this program. But our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody affected by the situation that happened and we’re just lucky to be able to talk to Cam.”
As the Bulldogs continue to mourn Madison’s passing, they also start the process of playing out the rest of the 2021 season in his honor.
Wright says the Bulldogs will be wearing an ‘LM’ sticker on their helmets for the rest of the season.
