Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Sad News

Tyler Hilinski

Sometimes it's easy to forget that college football players are very young adults with a unique set of challenges.

We learned that the hard way last night with the news that Washington State QB Tyler Hilinski, younger brother of former Columbia QB Kelly Hilinski, took his own life.

Our condolences go out to Kelly and his entire family.

6 comments:

Tod Howard Hawks, Columbia College, Class of 1966 said...

Thank you, Jake, for sharing this news, even though it is tragic. As you and others well know, there have been a number of suicides of Columbia students over the past year or so, and Columbia is not the only school to have experienced this spate of deaths. Across the nation, I hope those adults who are charged with the awesome responsibility of overseeing the well-being of our youth can do a better job in the future.

alawicius said...

Coach Bagnoli tragically had two of his players at Penn commit suicide. No doubt he's learned about prevention.

Unknown said...

Super sad Jake. My son Connor Spears who came to Columbia with Kelly has stayed close to Kelly and broke the story to me last night. Kelly was so fiercely proud of Tyler it has to be devastating for the family.

alawicius said...

Tyler seemed to doing well in his football career, possibly an emerging star. I haven't seen anything about what was troubling him, obviously a sensitive matter, but can anyone shed light?

Tod Howard Hawks, Columbia College, Class of 1966 said...

Eric Hahn just posted (Tuesday, 1/23/18) that a "STUD DB" has committed to Columbia FB secondary.

Tod Howard Hawks, Columbia College, Class of 1966 said...

Coach Callahan posted this evening (still Tuesday, 1/23/18) that John Alny, DE, 6'3", 225lbs, from American Heritage High School in Fort Lauterdale, FL, has committed to Columbia. American Heritage, as many of you know, is one of America's high school football powerhouses. In 2017, American Heritage won Florida's 5A State Championship.