Glenbard West football player dies from crash injuries
One of the two Glenbard West High School football players injured in a car crash in Glen Ellyn last week died Thursday from his injuries.
Seventeen-year-old Pierre Washington-Steel was the driver of the 2008 Ford Fusion that crashed into a utility pole on Swift Road in Glen Ellyn Friday evening, the DuPage County sheriff's office said. He died at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove Thursday morning. No other details of the crash have been released as the DuPage County Accident Reconstruction Taskforce continues to investigate.
Authorities said Washington-Steel's car was heading north just north of St. Charles Road around 8 p.m. when it left the road and struck the pole. Both Washington-Steel, a senior, and teammate Demarco Whitley, a junior, had to be pulled from the vehicle. Whitley remains in serious condition, hospital officials said.
Both athletes were running backs on the squad that made it to the state finals this season.
Glenbard West officials notified students during the school day. Principal Jane Thorsen said a letter was drafted by administrators for teachers to read in class simultaneously after grief counselors were stationed throughout the building to deal with any students who had trouble processing the news. A letter was also sent to parents.
Washington-Steel had transferred to Glenbard West after Driscoll Catholic High School in Addison, where he spent his junior year, was closed. He played football and baseball and ran track at the school.
"He was blessed with a lot of athletic talent and brought a lot of good things to our football team," said former Driscoll assistant coach Tony DiGrazia. "We used to always jokingly argue about which coach was going to get Pierre for the day because he was that good, and the coaches wanted him in their practice."
Small and powerful, Washington-Steel gained a reputation as equal parts "thunder and lightning," DiGrazia said.
Another former Driscoll assistant, Dan Meyo, said he didn't know anyone who didn't like Washington-Steel or want to get to know him.
"If it was football, he'd run over you," Meyo said. "If it was track, he'd run past you. If it was baseball, he'd hit a home run off you. But after it was over he'd look for you and want to get to know you and be your friend."
Friends and former coaches alike remember Washington-Steel for his work ethic and sense of humor.
His former youth league coach Craig Yaeger, who now coaches at Naperville Central High School, said the teen's father, Ray Washington, used to drive him, at age 9, to Naperville from their home in Arlington Heights to play on the championship-winning squad.
Yaeger said his former protégé added the Washington surname last year after his father was gunned down on Chicago's West Side.
"This family is really going through a lot," Yaeger said. "Pierre was an unbelievable kid, he really was. Everybody is going to miss him. It's just tragic."
The coaches didn't know what Washington-Steel's collegiate plans were. However, Meyo said he'd heard rumblings that serious interest had been expressed in the teen playing college baseball.
"He played center field and could cover a lot of territory, but he swung a powerful bat as well," Meyo said.
Reached by phone Tuesday, family members said they were not ready to talk about their loss and asked for privacy. No funeral arrangements have been set.
• Daily Herald staff writer Elisabeth Mistretta contributed to this report.
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<li><a href="/story/?id=355983">Injured Glenbard West student's condition upgraded <span class="date">[02/03/10]</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=355592">Glenbard West officials help students cope <span class="date">[02/02/10]</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=355498">Two Glenbard West players seriously hurt in crash <span class="date">[02/01/10]</span></a></li>
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