Paul Clinton Friends and family of Matt...

Paul Clinton

Friends and family of Matt Colby gathered at Estancia High School

Saturday to pay tribute and plant a memorial tree for the high school

football player who died a year ago today.

Kelli Colby, during a sundown ceremony at Estancia’s football

field, remembered her son as a curious teenager who loved to stir up

mischief and make friends.

“It still hurts a lot that he’s not here physically,” Colby said.

“But it feels so much better to have the memories.”

Matt Colby, who played outside linebacker for three seasons at

Estancia, transferred to Costa Mesa High School for his senior year

during the fall of 2001. He died as a result of head injuries

suffered during the football season.

For three of the four years he suited up for high school football

games, Colby played for coach Dave Perkins. He followed when Perkins

took the head coaching job at Costa Mesa.

The location of the tree, which can be seen from Placentia Avenue,

couldn’t be more perfect, Perkins said, considering that Colby spent

many hours playing the game he loved on Estancia’s field.

“A lot of his happiest times were spent right here,” Perkins said.

“This is the place it should be.”

With light rain falling on Saturday’s ceremony, Kelli Colby

reminisced about her son, recounting the moment he was born, through

his days as a high school football star.

Some of the invited guests wrote personal messages on small round

pebbles which were then buried with the pepper tree. There were small

pamphlets with two spiritual poems and a photo of Matt Colby wearing

the green jersey, with the No. 9 he wore when he played for the Costa

Mesa Mustangs.

Colby was 17 years old when he died in the early morning hours of

Sept. 29, 2001, after taking himself out of a game the night before

against Ocean View High School. Bleeding and swelling of the brain

caused by repeated blunt force injuries caused his death, according

to a coroner’s report released nine weeks later.

Other memorials after Colby’s death, including one at Orange Coast

College, have paid tribute to the popular young man, whose death

brought together the student bodies of Costa Mesa and Estancia, two

schools often locked in bitter rivalry.

The tree planted on Saturday night will be a symbol of that

togetherness, said Susan Perkins, the wife of Dave and a close friend

of Kelli Colby.

“It’s a reminder about life going on,” Perkins said. “It’s a time

for us all to get together and say goodbye to Matt.”

In addition to the tree, friends of the Colby family have donated

a sculpted stone with words of remembrance to be cemented next to the

tree. A second tree will be planted at Costa Mesa High School.

The Perkins’ have also organized a garage sale for Saturday to

raise money for Kelli Colby, who lost her job as a nurse earlier this

year and has struggled to pay her bills.

The garage sale will be held at the Perkins’ home in Huntington

Beach at 10041 Merrimac Drive beginning at 7 a.m. Saturday.

Josh Lander, 24, said he has missed his surrogate younger brother

over the past year and will visit the tree that honors him many

times.

“I’m often going to visit [the tree],” Lander said. “My love for

him will grow like this tree.”