‘Best soccer dad’: Remembering Maryland man who died coming back from hunting trip with friends

James “Tommy” Clagett was a standout athlete at the Catholic high school he went to in the late 90s who then poured those talents into helping his daughters learn how to play soccer, according to social media posts.

“He was such a good coach with patience of a saint for all the littles on our team,” Tracy Bowser said in a comment on the Facebook post the La Plata Youth Soccer Association wrote to tell people about Clagett’s death. “You could tell he was a very active father that his girls & Jill adored.”

The Southern Maryland man died on the American Airlines Flight 5342 while headed back home from a hunting trip with friends around Great Bend. There were 10 of them total; seven got on the plane while three drove back with the shotguns and hunting dogs.

The flight took off from Wichita and collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter while trying to land in D.C.

There were 67 people on board the two aircraft. No one survived.

Clagett, who is in his 40s, is a “loving father to his two daughters, Zoey and Alania, and a devoted husband to his wife, Jill, with whom he shared nine wonderful years of marriage,” according to a GoFundMe set up to support his family.

He was the executive vice president of Gaghan Mechanical, which performs general construction and HVAC work in the D.C. metro area. He had been working there for 16 years, according to the fundraiser.

His business profile on his company site says he ‘holds a bachelor of Construction Management degree from the ‘Harvard of the South,’ East Carolina University.’”

Before that, he graduated from St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Maryland in 2000 — Michael “Mikey” Stovall, who was also on the hunting trip and died in the crash, graduated from there in 2002, the Catholic school said in a Facebook post.

Reed Sothoron posted on Facebook lacrosse photos from high school of Clagett and a photo of them together as adults.

He said Clagett was a “standout player on our soccer team.” He later would help coach other kids the sport.

“Tommy was the best soccer dad to his two girls and would cheer each of ours on just as intensely,” Jenna Link said on Facebook.

Sothoron said his father coached lacrosse and approached Clagett about playing after one of his soccer games when he was still in high school.

“Fast forward to our senior year, and Tommy was one of the best players on our team,” he wrote. “Tommy, I know you’re in heaven having a lacrosse catch with my dad, just like old times. We will always keep your memory alive. Rest in peace my friend.”

The GoFundMe for Clagett’s family can be found at shorturl.at/Hdh3a.