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Donny Everett Drowns: Pitching Videos Highlight Ace’s Talent On The Mound

By Sheri Oz
Published on: 03:43 PST, Jun 3, 2016

https://youtu.be/FszQwE1scb0

In honor of Vanderbilt pitcher Donny Everett, who drowned yesterday evening, this video showcasing his achievements and his potential is perhaps the best memorial. His passing was announced at about 8 a.m. this morning; he was only 19 at the time of his death. Donny had just completed his freshman year at Vanderbilt and was to play with his team later today in the opening of the NCAA Tournament.

Everett was fishing with friends at Normandy Lake 60 miles east of Nashville. According to his friends, Donny decided to swim across the lake to an embankment. About half-way there, he called out for help, but his friends thought he was joking around. His body was recovered a few hours after he disappeared under the water surface.

According to the Tennessean, Everett had had a promising future ahead of him.

“He was one of the nation’s top high school pitchers while starring at Clarksville High.”

Before his tragic death, Coach Corbin praised Everett on Donny’s personal page on the Vanderbilt Commodores website.

“Donny certainly falls in line of the premier pitchers that we have been fortunate to get out of the state of Tennessee. He has overriding arm strength with the ability to throw consistent strikes. His future is bright and it is only a matter of time before he impacts our staff.”

In light of the announcement of Donny’s death, these words now are particularly poignant and painful.

From his page, we learn that Everett decided to enroll at Vanderbilt because of the sense of family the team provided. Everett also wanted to be coached by Coach Corbin.

“The life lessons that Coach Corbin can teach me, I will always remember. The education is great and will help my life after baseball and the memories I will make will be the best of my life.”

Everett’s team is scheduled to open the NCAA Tournament at 7 p.m. today, hosting Xavier. It is not yet clear if the game will go on.

Twitter is teeming with condolence messages to Donny’s family and team members. Other teams, as well as private individuals, are expressing their pain at his loss.

On his personal web page on the Vanderbilt team website, Everett described himself as carefree. He wrote that if a movie was to be written about him, the actor Jonah Hill would play him. Donny also like the actor Paul Walker, baseball player Jose Fernandez, the Boston Red Sox, and snacking on popcorn and peanut butter late at night.

The Milwaukee Brewers tried to sign Everett up late in the 2015 season. According to CBS Sports baseball reporter John Heyman, had Donny decided to join the team instead of going to university, he would have received a signing bonus of $2.5 million.

Everett is the second Vanderbilt athletics student to have died by drowning. Just over a year ago, in May 2015, basketball player Dai-Jon Parker, 22, was thrown from an inner tube by a wave as he was pulled by a boat on Morse Reservoir in Indiana. He had played three seasons at Vanderbilt before his death.

[Image from NCAA]

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