Posted by Jeff on Wednesday, May 02, 2001 at 6:26PM :
In Reply to: Tragic accident! posted by Rich in SOCAL on Wednesday, May 02, 2001 at 10:36AM :
Below is the news story from the local paper.
I followed Anthony's posts on the forum but never met him. I appreciated his enthusiasm for his truck and his interest in organizing a local meet. I don't know of any other 16 year olds who would take on such a project. Anthony makes at least the fourth young person that San Diego has lost to traffic accidents in the last two months. If you have kids who are just starting to drive, let them know they are not superhuman, it can happen to anyone.
Victim of crash is called caring
Death shocking to school teammates
By Mark Arner
STAFF WRITER
May 2, 2001
A 16-year-old boy killed Monday when his pickup crashed was remembered yesterday as an avid volleyball player and scuba diver who went out of his way to make others feel welcome.
"He loved everybody. He cared about everybody," Sandra Pratl said about her son, Anthony Vincent Pratl.
She recalled when Anthony once invited an unpopular classmate in junior high to go on an outing with the family and some buddies. The boy had been teased at school.
"He wanted to make the boy feel important," Sandra Pratl said.
Police said Anthony lost control of his pickup, a four-wheel-drive Dodge Power wagon, while driving west on Balboa Avenue in Clairemont about 6 p.m. Monday. He was passing a vehicle on a curve when he lost control of the pickup, which went into a skid, flipped, rolled into an embankment and hit a pole.
The death shocked his classmates and teammates at Kearny High School, where he was a sophomore and played on its volleyball team.
His coach, Chris Sego, took Anthony's teammates on the Kearny High Komets out of class yesterday, his mother said, and planned to dedicate a game yesterday to her son.
A close family friend, Kevin Russell, remembered Anthony fondly.
"He was the most lovable, outgoing person," Russell said, "and he found good in everybody. He was always helpful. He also had a good sense of humor and was always joking around."
As a kid, he joined Cub Scouts, then Boy Scouts, his mother said. Then volleyball and scuba diving took up most of his spare time. He planned to become a marine biologist.
"He liked to go lobster hunting," Russell said, "but he didn't really like to eat them. When he'd catch some, he'd give them to his parents."
Copyright 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
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