[1]
[2]By the time the Beckley family returned home from Costa Rica after Myles' accident, Head Coach Tom MacLean and hundreds of the Raider Nation had already knelt long in prayer, in special service and again in an all-school mass, to begin their work of lifting up our family.
Tom was at our door when we arrived home. If Virginia and I were able to express what would help, our requests would amount to 10% of what "Coach" and the St. Regis community did and still do, day-in and day-out.
Homemade meals were delivered to our family for months; clergy and friends visited from throughout the area; prayers were sent by other CYO football programs. At Myles' visitation service, a man I did not know waited patiently for a chance to give me a hug, then handed me a card and a donation to the SMyles Scholarship Fund. He was the Athletic Director of St. Edith, the team the Raiders had beaten for the CYO Championship three months earlier.
Long lines of people kept coming to that service; all knew Myles. Tough football players openly cried. John, one of my prior year captains, gave words to the community feeling that was only just beginning to grow:
"Coach, I'm praying all the time, and there has to be something else we can do ..."
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