Silcox | Preserving the impact

A year ago today, the unthinkable happened. We lost a young man who was by all accounts one of the brightest on this campus.

In the wake of Wharton junior and football co-captain Owen Thomas’ death last spring, there seemed to be a vacuum — a void of response. How will the football team recover? How will friends and family respond? How does a campus cope with something so startling?

For the football team, the answer was both unbelievably difficult yet terribly simple.

Win.

The season was dedicated to the fallen captain. From media day in August, when the seniors carried Owen’s No. 40 jersey from picture to picture, to preserving his locker as a solemn reminder each day at Franklin Field, it was always about Owen.

Just as they had done with No. 40 by their side the season before, the Quakers won and won and won this year until the trophy was theirs — for Owen.

Outside of Franklin Field, Owen’s family continued his legacy by donating his brain to a research group at Boston University, who found last September that the defensive lineman suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopath. CTE is a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head trauma — such as the hits common on the football field. It has been linked to depression and suicide in more than a dozen deceased football players.

Owen was the youngest active football player to be found with the disease, and his diagnosis has spurred more research, discussion and concern about the dangers of hard hits in sports.

Researchers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania are teaming with Penn coaches, trainers and athletes to contribute to the knowledge base to make sure this never happens again.

And Penn students, never ones to sit by idly, are doing the same.

There’s the Engineering senior who researched safer football helmets.

There’s the former softball star who recognized a downturn in her own mental well-being and is now putting her psychology major to good use. Senior Jessie Lupardus works with Penn athletic trainers, coaches and professional psychologists to help educate her fellow Quakers about the risks of depression.

There’s the group of seniors who, struggling with how to cope with Owen’s death, organized a walk in his name around the football field he once dominated. A couple hundred people showed up to walk “Out of the Darkness,” raising $16,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

There is no easy way to respond to a tragedy like the one that struck Penn a year ago, but Penn is moving forward as best as it can. Today, we will stop and look back, but keep pushing on.

The momentum of Owen’s impact on this campus is just starting to pick up speed. Don’t let it slow.

Calder Silcox is a junior science, technology and society major from Washington, D.C., and is Senior Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is silcox@theDP.com.

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