The Daviess County boys’ soccer team dedicated “Elliot Wells Week” to honor a former player who passed away last year, and they held special ceremony before their game Thursday night.
Wells passed away on Dec. 18, 2020, and with it still being fresh in so many people’s minds, DC Head Coach Doug Sandifer wanted to make sure the young man was honored and not forgotten.
“We wanted to do something this year one, obviously to remember him but also to kind of kick off the scholarship push,” Sandifer said.
Sandifer said when Wells’ parents made a donation to the boys’ soccer team following their son’s passing, he knew he couldn’t accept that money for meaningless things like gear. So, a scholarship was created.
The Elliott Wells Scholarship will be awarded to a graduating senior on the soccer team each year that Sandifer and company feel best represents the qualities that Wells had.
That means that player understands there’s more to life than just being another player on the pitch and is a person that brightens everyone’s day, according to Sandifer.
Sandifer and Wells’ parents on Thursday presented the scholarship to its first recipient, Bay La. La was a five-year member of the Panthers that graduated in 2021 before continuing his education and soccer career at Kentucky Wesleyan.
Along with Wells’ incredible energy that he brought to the team, he brought forth a lot of success. He helped the team to 72 wins with just seven losses while playing, also helping them secure a state championship in 2016.
While the success is all great, what people remembered most about Wells was the caring and vibrant energy that was infectious to those that surrounded him.
“Elliott obviously was a good player for us [as he] played three years of varsity for us and was on the state championship team…” Sandifer said. “What’s more important about Elliott is the type of person he was. If you ever met Elliott or knew Elliott, he was such a great person. He always put a smile on your face, he always had a smile on his face and just was so engaging and so interested in what was going on in your life.”
A lot of the current athletes were not around as Wells was playing with the team, so during practice this week Sandifer has made sure to share memories with them.
“Part of my mission this week was just educating our current players on who he was,” Sandifer said. “These guys really don’t know him or didn’t have a personal relationship with him, except maybe when they were starting off in our program.”
To do so, Sandifer strived to talk to the players about Wells and the qualities he possessed that made him the model teammate and player that he was.
“Hopefully we’ll get these guys to understand that it’s great that you’re a soccer player and you’re doing this, but there’s more important things that people will remember about you that go beyond how good you are at your sport,” Sandifer said. “And I feel like Elliot was the model for that.”
In order to further this goal, posts were made on social media prior to the game at the beginning of the week asking people to share old photos and stories in order to remember Wells.
This celebration of Wells’ life continued with a heartfelt ceremony at midfield before the game began Thursday.
Following a prepared statement about Wells read by the announcer, 18 balloons were released in his remembrance, as that was his jersey number during his career with the Panthers.
“Whether you were a coach, classmate or youngest member in the program, Elliott treated you with the same love and admiration,” the statement read. “As all of us know, Elliott showed up. He showed up each day for training and games with the same positive and infectious attitude, he showed up in his relationships with family and friends and he showed up with interactions with each person he ran into.”
Prior to the game, $4,000 had been raised, and they are hoping to build that number and the fund strong for years to come.
“If you bumped into Elliott, you had his full attention and engagement,” the statement read. “He made you smile, laugh and was genuinely interested in what was going on with you. After high school, Elliott attended Western Kentucky University where his impact reached far and wide across his WKU campus. He was a friend to all. Simply, if you knew Elliott, you loved him.”
