Video: Vardaman Community Mourning the Loss of Student Athlete Hunter McGreger

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VARDAMAN, Miss. (WCBI) — The Vardaman community is mourning the loss of one their budding student athletes. Hunter McGreger, an 8th grader, died suddenly early Monday morning of an unknown cause. His teachers say he loved science and being a normal, rambunctious teenage boy.

Hunter also loved football and his coach says the team won’t be the same without him.

“He would come back to the huddle and say ‘Run that play again. He’s not going to get me’. He just had a lot of grit about him,” says Larry Gann, Head Coach of the Vardaman High School Football team.

Vardaman Head Football Coach Larry Gann says he was looking forward to watching the 8th grader grow as a player. Coach Gann and the players are giving Hunter’s family mementos of his time on the football team.

“This is one of the things we’re going to give his family when the rest of the players get it signed. We’re also giving them one of his game jerseys,” says Gann.

A name plate and framed jersey will also be placed in the Vardaman locker room in Hunter’s honor. Hunter not only made an impact on the football field but also left an impression on his classmates and teachers.

“His personality. He was always there for his friends, always good support for them and I know that they’re going to miss that a lot,” says Kayla Long, Hunter’s science teacher.

“It’s tough. The boys, it’s really tough on the boys. A lot them, they were all kin and they’re taking it the hardest,” says Hunter’s history teacher Billy Dill.

He’s survived by his parents, Dusti Crowley McGreger and Sammy Earl McGreger, a sister and three step-sisters. A funeral service for Hunter McGreger was held this afternoon in the Vardaman Gymnasium.

Those who knew Hunter say he was a good kid who’ll be greatly missed but not forgotten.