Kymball Ray Duffy

This memorial is waiting to be taken over by friends and/or family.

Kymball Duffy, 16, a junior at Yellville-Summit High School and a member of the football team, was killed Friday, 9/11/09, when the pickup truck he was driving overturned on Marion County Road 4002 in Yellville, AR. He, his brother Korbin and three of their fellow football players were on their way to Duffy's home for dinner after a pep rally at school.

Before every home game, the football team eats at somebody's house and then they all go to the field house. The whole team was at the Duffy's waiting for Kymball and the others.

They kept trying to call them, but nobody answered. One of the boys called, and said they had been in a wreck but couldn't talk, and hung up.

The phone call that Kevin and Kary Duffy received next was the call every parent hopes never to receive.

By 5:30pm, students had instinctively started gathering at the field house at school. They decided to meet at 9 p.m. on the football field with candles. In the meantime, a group of kids blew up 72 balloons, representing Duffy's jersey number, and hung a giant green sign on the bleachers that read "Kymball Duffy # 72 We love you”. White styrofoam cups placed in the fence around the field read "We ♥ KD 72."

Since Friday night, Duffy's friends have gathered together wherever they can — at school, at the Church on the Rock in Yellville where Duffy's father is pastor, at friends' homes. They've made signs, T-shirts and "KD 72" window stickers. Many of them have spent hours upon hours at the Duffy home.

"It really helps to be at his house," his friend Laura Bean said. "His parents want people to come. They want us to be happy for the time he lived, not sad that he has died."

To that end, Duffy's parents have asked that his funeral be like a football game, with players in full uniform and the stands full of students dressed in festive green and white, Yellville-Summit High School's colors. Even the traditional green and white face paint is in order.

"It makes it easier for me," said Kymball’s friend Ben Kerwood. "It's the first time since I was very young that I've had to deal with the death of someone close to me."

Mostly, Duffy's friends just needed to be together, to talk about him.

"Things are a lot better today," Kerwood said.
"Because everybody's together," added Bean.
"I don't know anybody that Kymball didn't like," Kerwood said.
"He was friends with everybody," Bean said.
They needed to say out loud the things about Duffy that made them laugh.
"Kymball loved milk," Bean said.
"Milk, football and food," Kerwood said.
"He always had two cartons of milk at lunch," Bean said, "and was thrilled if he could come up with three. He could drink a gallon of milk."
"If you teased him about anything," Kerwood said, "he would say, 'You're always pickin' on the fat kid.'"
"You're always pickin' on the fat kid," Bean agreed.
"And he came late to football every day," Kerwood said. "He would beg Coach Gustin not to make him run, but he always had to."
"He told me Friday that he liked to sleep," Coach Allen Gustin said. "I was trying to teach him to be responsible. He was a well-liked kid by everybody."

Friday's scheduled game at Cave City, and all other games this season, will be dedicated to Duffy, Kerwood says.

"When we start the game," Kerwood said, "we want to start with 10 players instead of 11. It's just one of the ideas we've had."

"He was truly a remarkable young man," Yellville-Summit Principal Ralph Bishop said. "Kymball always had a smile on his face. He had fun in life. He never did anything to harm anybody. “He was always smiling, always having a good time,” Bishop said. “He never had a bad word about anyone.”

Duffy's brother Korbin was one of the passengers in the truck. He and two of the other boys were treated at Baxter Regional Medical Center and released. The fifth passenger, also on the team, remains in critical condition in neuro-trauma intensive care at Cox Medical Center in Springfield, Mo.

A memorial service for Kymball Duffy was at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the new multi-purpose building – the Yellville-Summit Sports Complex.

As Kymball Duffy's friends and family gathered in the brand-new Panther Sports Complex, his teammates dressed in full uniform and met without him on their home field under a scoreboard lit with 72s.

Inside, 1,350 bleacher seats and 210 chairs on the gym floor were almost filled to capacity, all eyes on the casket draped with green and white flowers and a football. Duffy's letter jacket, No. 72 jersey and football helmet sat on a table nearby.

"Kymball loved football," Kevin Duffy said. "He loved life on Friday nights — the smell, the feeling, the fans, the opponents. Thank you for coming and honoring Kymball with one more game."

To honor Duffy, the Salem Greyhounds team attended the celebration of his life Wednesday night, dressed in their away-game uniforms. One by one they filed through the gym to the cheers of the crowd, touching Duffy's helmet and his casket.

When the Yellville-Summit Panther football team followed, the crowd, on their feet, roared and clapped. Many of the boys pressed a kiss on the casket, patted it and pointed skyward. All were visibly shaken. The cheerleaders followed, and when the last student had filed past, two of Duffy's best friends presented his jacket, jersey and helmet to Duffy's parents, Kevin and Kary Duffy, sitting in the front row with their children Korbin and Kyli Jo.

The entire extended Duffy family, nearly 100 of them, had dressed in green shirts that read "Duffy 72" on the back.

Kevin Duffy immediately donned his son's jacket. After Duffy's 12 best friends spoke about him, Kevin Duffy stood and hugged each one.

"He was the best friend anyone could ever have," said one friend.

"We're not just a school or a community," said another. "We're a family."

Hunter Watkins said, "Kymball will be in the hallways with us. He will dance with us at prom and walk with us at graduation."

"It's not about the tragedy," said Kevin Duffy, pastor of Church on the Rock in Yellville. "It's about the triumph. Stand up. Take a position. Be bold. God wants to move in children."



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Kymball Ray Duffy was the son of Kevin & Kary (Rose) Duffy. Kymball is survived by his parents: Kevin & Kary Duffy. his brother & sister: Korbin & Kyli Jo Duffy, his Grandparents: Brenda Owen & husband Tom, Betty Rose. Visitation was held at the Burns Funeral Home in Yellville on September 15, 2009 4-8 pm. Services were held at the Y-S Sports Complex on September 16, 2009 at 7:00 P.M. Casual dress is requested. Memorials can be made to the Kymball Duffy Memorial Fund , P.O. Box 525 Yellville, AR 72687.