SOMERSET, Ky. (LEX 18) — They say Andrew Dodson always “popped back up” after being hit on the football field. Having seen that happen so many times over the years is what, in part, made his death so shocking.
Dodson, the 17-year-old Pulaski County High School football player, was memorialized Friday in his hometown four days after dying from a traumatic brain injury he suffered on the practice field.
“Excellent young man, great representative of his community. He loved Christ, loved life and was a light with everyone he came in contact with,” said family friend, Charlie Goodman.
Goodman was one of the roughly 1,000 people who came to pay their respects to Dodson and his family during a Friday morning service inside the Center for Rural Development just south of downtown Somerset. Teammates from the PCHS football team came dressed in their jerseys. Everything they do as teammates going forward will be done with Andrew in mind.
“Do it for Andrew. Keep him in our hearts. He loved the game, we love the game so do it for him, of course,” said Keegan Keith.
Another friend of Andrew’s wasn’t on the football team but enjoyed a relationship with him going back to elementary school.
“There never was a dull moment. He was always happy, always smiling,” Payton Bolin said before adding, “the type of person I want to be around. Somebody to look up to. He was that kid.”
Mr. Goodman spoke with us before entering the building, where flowers and hundreds of pictures of Andrew adorned the lobby.
“God is sovereign. He is moving even through tragedy. In these moments it’s not that we hold onto our faith, but our faith holds onto us,” Goodman said.