Weeks later, Kernich death remains tough to process

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By Sean McClelland, Staff Writer 9:51 PM Friday, January 29, 2010

It’s been more than two months since the beating death of former Fairborn High School athlete Chris Kernich, but I can’t get it out of my head.

We weren’t friends, but I had spoken with him a couple of times for stories and was convinced he could have played football or baseball in college if he chose. In fact, Chris once talked about trying to walk on at Ohio State as a receiver. “I think I can make it,” he told me as a Fairborn senior.

A few weeks before the tragedy, I phoned former Fairborn quarterback Nico Yantko, who had been named the starting QB at Murray State in Kentucky. Because they had helped make each other stars in high school, I mentioned Chris in passing and Yantko told me he was at Kent State majoring in business. The conversation veered off and I didn’t think much more about it until one night an editor came into the sports area and asked if anyone remembered a Fairborn athlete named Chris Kernich. We had received a tip that somebody by that name was in a coma after a fight.

Chris died a few days later of head injuries. Eerie that I had just been thinking about him.

We meet scores of high school athletes in this business, and certain ones are hard to forget, whether for their talents, their graciousness, or both. Chris had both. It’s still hard to process what happened to him, and I can only imagine how difficult it’s been for his family and anyone who truly knew him.

Maybe it’s best that we never forget.

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