NORCROSS, Ga — Friends and family are remembering the legacy of a Gwinnett County coach who died after collapsing on a softball field.
They say Meadowcreek High School Coach Bond Crosby was a leader on and off the field. The 28-year-old died of a heart attack on Thursday. The community says his legacy will live on through his players and students.
"What people talk about is how fast Bond's life went or what a shock it is. (That's) not what we can take from it. It's not how his life ended. It's how he lived his life," said Crosby’s best friend Dustin Afman.
Afman said Crosby was an inspiration to his students.
"They didn't just lose a teacher or a coach. They lost a father figure. That’s something some of these kids didn't have,” Afman said.
Afman says he and Crosby were college fraternity brothers, who later coached together at Meadowcreek High School. Afman says he convinced the school to hire Crosby in 2011 and Crosby was a hit.
"Within a year, he was the head baseball coach over there and he never looked back,” Afman said. "He loved his job. There was no clocking in, clocking out."
Afman also loved sports. He was doing what he loved last Thursday, playing softball with his friends.
"He was playing first and I was right next to him at second and he, he just dropped,” Afman said. "They found out that two of his arteries were 100 percent blocked and the other two were 90 percent."
Crosby died a week later. Afman says no one saw it coming.
The loss of a coach who cared more about his kids than wins and loses, Afman says what he leaves behind is far greater than their pain.
"It was a gift from God to help us shape our lives is how I look at Bond being in our lives and being in those kids' lives."
The community hopes to name the Meadowcreek baseball field after Bond in his honor.
WSBTV
