Fan meets Devin Willock hours before he was killed in car crash
By Andy Cole
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ATHENS, Georgia (WJCL) — As The University of Georgia community mourns the loss of a player and staffer killed in an early morning car crash, one fan and his grandson are grateful to have had one of the last interactions with Devin Willock.
After attending the championship celebration for Georgia’s back-to-back national titles Saturday in Athens, Sam Kramer and his 7-year-old grandson Camdyn stopped to eat before heading home to Cartersville.
“Actually, had just sat down to get ready to order and we noticed kind of a commotion, but we noticed some folks that had started to gather on the left side where we were sitting. As soon as I turned my head and looked, I saw who it was,” Kramer told WJCL.
It was redshirt sophomore Willock. And as a lifelong Georgia fan, Kramer knew he had to say hi.
“I just kinda gave him kind of a fist bump. I said, ‘Hey Devin, congrats with everything that’s going on.’ He turned and saw Camdyn sitting there, and Camdyn was kinda wide-eyed looking at him.”
After chatting for a bit, Kramer said it was hard for Camdyn not to notice his championship ring.
“I remember I just told Camdyn, ‘Hey, you’ve got one. But he’s got the real deal.’ And so Devin, without even stopping or flinching, took the ring off and gave it to Camdyn and said, ‘I’d love to see what you look like in the ring,'” Kramer said.
He snapped a few pics of the encounter and posted them to Twitter. Willock saw it and retweeted it with three red hearts – his final tweet. Then, hours later, tragedy struck.
Athens-Clarke County Police said it was just before 3 a.m. Sunday that the SUV he was a passenger in slammed into two power poles and trees before crashing into an apartment.
That accident killed Willock and the driver, football staffer Chandler LeCroy. The Athens Banner-Herald reports star offensive tackle Warren McClendon was also in the car. He has minor injuries while another passenger is in serious condition.
“My heart is broken for them. I just want you to know that you raised an outstanding young man and he will be missed,” Kramer said.
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