Northwest coaches wear shirts to honor Blue Valley’s Eric Driskell

Eric Driskell is still making an impact on Kansas high school football, even 200 miles south in Wichita.

In honor of the Blue Valley football coach who died in February three days after suffering a ruptured brain aneurysm, the Northwest football coaching staff all wore black shirts with the Blue Valley logo and a quote by Driskell — “Live like champions” — to Thursday’s season-opening game against Bishop Carroll.

Northwest coach Steve Martin said it was important to him to show respect to Driskell, who had helped Martin as a young coach when he was at Troy.

“When the tragedy happened in February, we came together and we knew we had to find a way to honor him,” Martin said. “A lot of the coaches around the state all feel the same way (about Driskell), not just that he was a great coach, but how great of a man he was. He wasn’t just great in football, he was great in life and he was great in how he treated other people.

“This was the least I could do to honor him.”

Carroll would go on to defeat Northwest 40-35, while Blue Valley opens its season Friday night at Miege.

This story was originally published September 1, 2017 at 1:38 AM with the headline "Northwest coaches wear shirts to honor Blue Valley’s Eric Driskell."