RIP Jim

This is an article from my hometown newspaper, The Daily Record. The article is about one of the kids from my graduating class in high school who died two days ago in Colorado, the victim of a snowboarding accident. Now, Jim and I weren't best friends, we weren't even very good friends. But Jim was a good kid. He was an athlete and an academic. I was about as far away from those two social circles as Rosie O'Donnell would be from a weight loss clinic, but we still knew each other and he always treated me with respect. Heck, this kid treated everyone with respect. I haven't thought of him since we graduated but having read the article, I miss the kid a lot. He was a good guy. Makes you think: Life is Short, my friends. Make the most of it and enjoy the hell out of it. Tell everyone you love that you love them because they may not be here tomorrow. Here's the article (by the way, there are quotes from Shane Force, a kid my mom used to babysit when we were little kids):

Jefferson grad dies in accident at Colo. resort

Family and friends mourn death of James McLean, 33

BY MATT MANOCHIO
DAILY RECORD
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

A 1993 Jefferson High School graduate who helped lead the Falcons wrestling team to victory and who went on to become a doctor was killed in a snowboarding accident over the weekend in Colorado.

Dr. James P. McLean, 33, of Leawood, Kan., was killed Sunday at the Breckenridge Ski Resort after a snowboarding jump went awry, according to published reports. McLean, who died of a neck fracture, was employed by the University of Kansas Hospital, where he was working as a physiatrist, a doctor specializing in sports medicine and rehabilitation. Funeral arrangements are pending.

"He was a great kid, a fine, upstanding young man," John Cinotti, Jefferson High School's vice principal, said Monday afternoon. "He always did the right thing."

Cinotti learned of McLean's death Monday morning and said he was not only an outstanding wrestler, but played linebacker for the school's football team.

"He was an excellent wrestler -- either third or fourth in the state back in 1993," said Cinotti, who was the school's football coach at the time. "He was very intelligent. He had a great head on his shoulders. He helped people. There wasn't a bad bone in his body. He was just very kind to individuals."

McLean's brother, Justin McLean, 32, of Bedminster, described his older brother as "just a very energetic, happy, positive person who just had the most positive approach to life," during a Monday phone interview. "And I think he tried to get the most out of it that he could."

McLean said his brother was always busy.

"He worked incredibly hard in academics and athletics, but he loved it," McLean said, adding that he believed his brother was only five years old when he set his sights on practicing medicine.

"The first time he wanted to be a doctor was when he had pneumonia when he was a very young kid and he was hospitalized for that," McLean said. "I know there was a doctor who made an impression on him even at that young age. Since then I remember ... he always wanted to be a doctor."

Dennis McCulloch, a spokesman for the University of Kansas Hospital, where McLean was an attending physician for the organization's rehabilitative medicine program, said McLean had been at the hospital for only eight months, but in that short time had gained the attention of the staff.

"He was going to head up an expansion of our spine program at the hospital," McCulloch said. "He had only been there since June, but the expansion of the spine program was a high-priority project for the campus. So it's quite a prominent position.

"He was very thought out, and we had high hopes for this initiative because of his leadership," McCulloch said.

McLean completed a fellowship at the Rehabilitation Institute in Chicago, McCulloch said. Both his medical schooling and residency were at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. He was single.

Details of the accident were not available Monday, as spokesmen for law enforcement agencies and the ski resort were not available. The Kansas City Star reported that McLean was wearing a helmet, had become airborne and landed on his head. The Denver Post reported that he was provided with life support by the ski patrol and taken to Breckenridge Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The coroner ruled the death as accidental, the Post reported.

McLean is survived by his parents, Jim and Jackie McLean, who reside in Richardson Texas. His brother, Justin McLean, was a Falcon wrestler from 1991 to 1994 and a member of two state championship teams, as well.

Justin McLean said his brother went on to compete at Rutgers University and was the captain of the wrestling team there, as well.

"He was just a great human being and a great asset to society," Cinotti said. "It's such a shame that we lose a person like that at such a young age who had so much to contribute."

Shane Force, 34, of Montville, graduated a year ahead of McLean at Jefferson and was on the wrestling team with him. He said McLean finished fourth in the state in both his junior and senior years, and was one of the leaders of the 1993 Jefferson Falcon team that ranked first in the state and country.

"He was just a really hard worker," Force said. "I think football encouraged him to lift weights a lot. He didn't have a lot of God-given talent, but he was in the weight room lifting every day. He worked very hard."

Force said another aspect of McLean's character was his giving side. McLean in the last year finished his schooling and residency and likely had a lot of student loans, Force said. That didn't prevent McLean from regularly contributing money to the Jefferson Wrestling Alumni Association to help the current wrestlers.

"Every time we had a fundraiser he was one of 20 or 25 who would donate," Force said. "That said a huge amount about him."

Force described McLean as a soft-spoken teammate who excelled using a particular wrestling hold.

"He was king of the front headlock," Force said. "He'd do it eight to 10 times a match and nobody could stop him. He was amazing at how he could catch anyone with that."

Tim Hennessey, 39, of Charlotte, N.C., was an assistant coach in Jefferson when McLean wrestled there, and agreed with Force's assessment of their friend.

"I would say Jimmy was probably ... not the most talented kid in the room, but through incredible work ethic and kind of a can-do attitude ... be brought an unparalleled work ethic into the room every day," Hennessey said Monday.

Hennessey said McLean's headlock was so masterful, he'd use it to win matches by taking down an opponent with it, letting him back up on his feet, and then taking him down again with the same fast move, thereby piling up the points and victories.

"He just got so good with this front headlock," he said. "He was in unbelievable condition. It was literally unstoppable."

Hennessey also said McLean was one of the top students in the class of 1993, and an intense listener.

"Whether it was just listening to you telling a story, or something unrelated to wrestling, he was just so focused and listened so, so well," Hennessey said.