| Spring - 2007 | .Michael Pennerman: April 1, 1988 - November 7, 2004 |
Informational Links:
Official Press Release by Tish Busselle, Special Consultant to the State Administrator, Vallejo City Unified School District, Nov. 7, 2004, 4:45 p.m. Bethel Football Player Dies from Game Injury Mike Pennerman, a star football player at Bethel High School in Vallejo, died this afternoon at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek. Pennerman was tackled in a football game last night and collapsed on the sideline. The Bethel team doctor and the Emergency Medical Team Members who are on standby at football games attended to him immediately. He was taken to Kaiser Hospital in Vallejo and then transported to John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek, the area's trauma center. Pennerman, a high school junior, was in his second year at Bethel High School. He was special teams player as well as a wide receiver and free safety. He was injured during a point-after attempt on Saturday. District and school administrators and staff, as well as the members of the footballl team, are in shock. Football Coach Jeff Turner, who has fifteen years experience as a football coach, has never witnessed such a serious injury. Turner praised Pennerman as an "outstanding student athlete." "He was the kind of kid who just loved the game of football. He was loved and respected by all of the players and coaches. He had everything going for him, including not only his skills on the football field but his intelligence and achievements in the classroom." Lilli Rollins, Principal of Jesse Bethel High School since August, is grieving today. "Although I've only been at Bethel for two months, I've been able to spend some time with all of the football team. Mike stood out to me as a great student, a committed football player and a model for his fellow students. I could tell that he had plans for his future. Our prayers are with Mike's family- his mother Tracie Wease, his sister Jasmine (also a student at Bethel), his little brother Theo, and his father Mike Pennerman, Sr. who lives in Southern California." |
About Michael On November 7, 2004, we all lost a loving son, brother, and friend, Michael Pennerman Jr. He was 16 years old. Michael was doing what he loved, playing high school football with his teammates from Jesse Bethel High School, when he suffered a severe head injury. All members of the Pennerman family, Shelley family, Wease family, Jesse Bethel High School, Vallejo Unified School District, and friends, share in the loss of this wonderful young man. Michael was always a tremendously outgoing person. Everywhere he went he was able to make friends and would become known to them as ìDawgî. In the classroom, Mikey maintained a 3.0 grade point average. On the football field ìDawgî was having a great season on the varsity team. He was a First team ALL-LEAGUE (SCAC) and ALL-REGION selection at wide receiver and free safety. Mikey had just received his first recruiting letter to play college football. Mikey was a phenomenal human being. He was extremely intelligent, funny, clever, wise, loving, respectful, and cared a great deal for all people. If he ever saw a homeless individual, he always gave them money. He talked all the time at an early age that he planned to open a homeless shelter big enough where every homeless person could come and have all their needs met. As a grandson, son, brother, nephew, and friend, Michael will be missed. But, his spirit of dedication can and will live on! With your help, the Jesse Bethel High School community has begun collecting to facilitate an endowment fund to provide an annual Michael Tracy Pennerman Jr. Scholarship to a deserving student/athlete in the city of Vallejo, California to help defray his/her college expenses. The award will not necessarily go to the best athlete or to the best student, but rather to a student who has a high degree of respect and love for Vallejo and who exhibits exemplary sportsmanship and citizenship.
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