![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/fayetteville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/01\/1-4-1024x683.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTim, Sonya, and their son, Will, grieved Edward\u2019s absence differently. Although present and parenting Will, a second-grader at the time, the parents weren\u2019t sure how to fill the time previously committed to Edward\u2019s care. Will can say today, though, that he knows Edward\u2019s influence on his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe made me realize there are more people out there [who] need help and are going through worse,\u201d Will said. \u201cOur job is to be nice to others because you don\u2019t know their situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Will started playing football as a freshman at Fayetteville High School (FHS) in 2016, the family recognized that many players struggled to have everything they needed to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe need was there. You had boys that didn\u2019t have anything,\u201d said Sonya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the coach\u2019s approval, Tim and Sonya and two other couples founded the Tiger Touchdown Club, a football booster club whose mission is to provide players with equipment, supplies, jerseys, transportation to games over two hours away, pregame meals, and more. \u201cIf it touches the kid, that\u2019s our whole focus,\u201d said Tim. \u201cMoney is raised by the sale of banners, advertisements, and sponsorships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris Cagle, FHS offensive coordinator, attests to the club\u2019s support of the players. \u201cI wasn\u2019t around when they developed the booster club, but [Fayetteville City\u2019s football program] would have nothing without the Ellis family. Tim and Sonya provide financial support by giving and raising money. They do this while Tim runs a business and Sonya has a full-time job. They have The support the players receive compels them to achieve their best academically, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tim said, \u201cSeven players signed to play at the next level last year. One of the huge benefits we\u2019ve had the last several years is that we\u2019ve been able to help move a lot of kids from FHS into colleges and universities when they receive football scholarships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n FHS head football coach Daniel Johnson said, \u201cThe [Ellis family is] the first family of Fayetteville football \u2014 the one constant throughout the years. Their tireless work has helped raise money that has supported the Tigers with pre and post-game meals, charter buses, purchasing socks, laundry detergent, and workout gear, among numerous other things that help run a successful program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A first family of football isn\u2019t born overnight but birthed from generations of families who plan their lives around supporting their teams. Tim\u2019s dad was Maurice Ellis, a former Fayetteville Junior High School principal. His uncle was coach Jimmy Ellis, a former athletic director at Lincoln County High School and a former football and basketball coach at Central High School. Sonya was a cheerleader, Tim played center for three years in high school, and Will\u2019s earliest football memories are watching Tennessee Vols games with his dad. Even Edward was passionate about the Vols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe could definitely express his wants to us, and he loved hearing \u2018Rocky Top,\u2019\u201d said Sonya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will attended Bethel University on a football scholarship. Inspired by his former teacher, Adam McCormick, and coach, Daniel Johnson, he was the student athletic trainer for the football team and graduated with a degree in biology education. He plans to coach football, continuing the family tradition and further steeping the Ellis family in high school football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sonya, Tim, and Will stay in contact with the players, making sure they know they can come to them if they need anything. They demonstrate their care and concern for them through their presence, day after day, putting hands and feet to their words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy mom and her friends are the biggest cheerleaders these young men have. If you look up in the stands on any given Friday night, there\u2019s the same group of women standing up, cheering and hollering for these boys. Mom and Mrs. Kasey never sit down,\u201d said Will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Author J.K. Rowling wrote, \u201cThings we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.\u201d The Ellis family knows it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is how I look at working with the football players,\u201d said Sonya. \u201cWe are spending time every week with these young men, and maybe, just maybe, we are touching them and helping them in ways we don\u2019t even realize. Every year, we gain around 50 new family members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, the Ellis family\u2019s commitment to the FHS football players isn\u2019t about recognition or praise. It\u2019s about the genuine care and support they offer, day in and day out. Their unyielding dedication reflects their belief in the power of community and the impact of selfless giving. As the stadium lights fade, their legacy lives on, intertwined with the stories of those they have touched, forever etched in the heart of Tiger football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not about us. We do it for the kids,\u201d said Tim and Sonya simultaneously. \u201cWe love our son and Tiger football and everyone associated with it.\u201d GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE PLAYING field for high school football isn\u2019t a hundred yards; it\u2019s as large as the community\u2019s hearts as they rally for their team and each other. Fayetteville High School\u2019s Friday night lights spotlight a network of interconnected stories set in a small town against a backdrop of spirited marching bands, cheerleaders, concessions, players, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/fayetteville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/01\/5-1-1024x683.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
impacted the players\u2019 lives by providing them with things they would not have if left up to them. [They treat] the players as their own without asking for anything in return,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/fayetteville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/01\/4-3-1024x683.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/fayetteville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/01\/3-5-1024x683.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n