For Last Time, Football Star Fills Stadium

As the sun set and a lone gull glided overhead Wednesday evening, more than 1,000 people gathered at Newport Harbor High School to mourn the loss of a football player who died in a car crash on Mother’s Day.

On the football field where Andre Stewart excelled as a running back, classmates and friends placed flowers and balloons near his jersey, weeping as they made their way to the bleachers to applaud him one last time.

Teammates, coaches and family took turns at the podium, trying to describe the essence of a once shy teenager who had turned gregarious after he learned he could speak with his feet on the playing field.

He was always laughing, people said. If you’ve never seen Andre play, you’ve really missed something. If you didn’t know Andre, you wanted to. He had color-coordinated shoelaces. He cared about the team. We’ll miss you, Andre.

Robert Cole, a 325-pound player who blocked for Stewart, stood at the podium and defied every football stereotype with an emotional and poignant tribute to Stewart: “His short life was beautiful.”

Cole told the audience of the time he broke his leg and Stewart felt responsible. After most teammates had visited Cole, Stewart finally arrived, saying he had delayed because he felt guilty.

“We just looked at each other and cried,” said Cole, a senior. It wasn’t until a week later that he learned Stewart had been so distressed he was unable to finish that game.

Stewart, 18, was driving a 1999 Nissan Altima east on the Pomona Freeway at 3:30 a.m. Sunday when he lost control and went into the guardrail.

His half-brother Lamar, a freshman at Newport Harbor, was a passenger in the car but received only minor injuries. California Highway Patrol investigators said the crash may have happened because Stewart fell asleep.

Last season, Stewart was named offensive player of the year for the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division VI and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s most valuable player after the Sailors won the 1999 CIF championship. He rushed for 2,380 yards and scored 26 touchdowns.

Stewart’s mother and stepfather, who live in Rubidoux, and other family members, including Stewart’s father, also took the podium, some to say only a few words, others to mourn publicly.

Tim Stewart could manage only four words about the son he lost. “I love you, Andre,” he murmured, then returned to the bleachers.

Stewart’s mother, Sonja William, wore one of her son’s jerseys as she recounted how she learned of his death from a police officer early Sunday morning. “That’s not my baby,” she recalled saying that night.

William rearranged her life for her children, moving to Southern California to find the best school district and escape a troubled neighborhood in San Jose. Andre’s achievement was her reward. “If somebody asked, I’d educate them,” she said. “I never bragged about him.”

A thousand people gave her a standing ovation.

As a lone bagpiper played “Amazing Grace,” relatives helped William from the field. She could no longer stand. She could only say, “My son. My son.”