TENAHA, Texas — Tributes have poured in from across the nation this week after former East Texas football coach Jeremy Jenkins and his wife, Brandy, were killed in a car crash.
Jenkins coached at Tenaha, Mount Enterprise and Harmony during his time in East Texas.
Current Tenaha athletic director Terry Ward is organizing an effort to raise money for the couple’s sons.
“Obviously donating money will never replace the loss that those boys have seen, but we just want to show them that their parents were important to us,” Ward said.
Ward began planning the fundraiser after learning of the couple’s deaths.
“I wanted to do something for the boys and so we came up with this idea. Let’s raise some money, as much as we can,” Ward said.
Other schools join effort
Ward reached out to coaches at schools on Tenaha’s schedule, including Linden-Kildare, Ore City and Joaquin. All three agreed to take up an offering that will be donated to Jenkins’ sons.
Ore City athletic director and head football coach Justin Arnold said on Facebook that all money collected at next week’s regular season opener against Tenaha will go to the Jenkins family.
“The coaches that I asked to help with this, they have stepped up and volunteered. They may or may not even know Coach Jenkins. They may have coached against him they may not, but they have all stepped up because they understand the importance of what he was doing, the importance of what is being left behind and the hole that is being left behind with his family as well as his football team,” Arnold said.
A memorial service for Jeremy and Brandy Jenkins will be held Saturday in Sugar Land.
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