Canton lost a truly great one in Scott Herr

By Jay Turner

Scott Herr

Editor’s note: Shortly after midnight on January 1, Scott Herr, a 2009 graduate of Canton High School and a freshman at Northeastern University, was killed when the truck he was riding in, driven by his girlfriend, crashed along an icy stretch of road near Buffalo, New York. He is survived by his parents, Joseph and Linda, and his older brother, Joseph. What follows is a personal reflection by one of Scott’s former teachers, Canton Citizen staff writer Jay Turner, with contributions from CHS boys’ ice hockey coach Brian Shuman.

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The death of any young person is a tragedy, plain and simple, but the death of recent Canton High School graduate Scott Herr in a traffic accident on New Year’s Eve somehow feels beyond cruel.Perhaps it is because there are no real lessons to be learned, no wakeup calls about the dangers of drugs or alcohol, no sense that a well-placed phone call or hug could have somehow prevented what occurred. (Reports did indicate that Scott was not wearing his seat belt, but Scott always wore a seat belt, as one friend pointed out, and he was wearing one that night — until he removed it in a desperate effort to regain control of the car.)

Taken way too soon, Scott, from my vantage point, was as kind and as decent a person as one could ever meet. Ask anyone — his friends, his classmates, his teammates and coaches, his other teachers — and they will all agree. Scott Herr really was that kid — the one who everyone liked and respected, the kind of kid who seemed to fit in yet stand out at the same time.

In the classroom, Scott was inquisitive, eager, and incredibly self motivated. I can honestly say that he embraced his education, and I learned from his parents that he was the same way at home, always learning and always asking good questions, regardless of whether a grade was at stake.

Yes, he was an honors student, and yes, he excelled in the classroom, but Scott was also so much more — an involved citizen, a thoughtful friend, a passionate athlete and fan. Those qualities, it turned out, made him a perfect choice to receive one of the two inaugural Paul Matthews Senior Cup awards, a prestigious honor that recognizes excellence in scholarship, sportsmanship and service to the community.

It seems fitting that Scott will now forever be linked with the award’s namesake, a dedicated and popular public servant who also died too soon. But for now, the wounds of Scott’s loss are still fresh, and the fact that he was just 18 and barely out of high school makes it that much harder to accept.

It is through this pain, however, that we come to see with greater clarity just how special Scott was to us and how deeply he will be missed. We begin to marvel at the friendships he has made and how many lives he was able to touch with his generosity, selflessness and devotion to others.

Many people, including Brian Shuman, his high school hockey coach, said they will always remember Scott’s smile, in part because it never seemed to go away.

“My memory of Scotty will forever be of a smiling young man who loved his family, his friends, his school, and his town,” Shuman said. “He spread happiness and joy to so many people. Although his life was tragically cut short, Scotty made more valuable contributions to this world and experienced more happiness in 18 short years than most people do in a lifetime.”

Shuman said in four years he watched Scott grow into an “outstanding athlete on the ice and on the baseball field,” but he was even more impressed by his “growth as a person.”

“Scotty was truly one of the nicest, most selfless people that I have ever met and probably ever will meet,” he said. “In victory or defeat, no one was prouder of his teammates than Scott Herr. In four short years, he inspired his teammates and coaches to become better people.”

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When I think of Scott, I am reminded of the popular baseball-related expression that “no one bats a thousand,” with the implication being that nobody is perfect, not in the batter’s box, and certainly not in life. It is one of those expressions that I know he would appreciate, especially as a ballplayer who batted a very respectable .291 his senior season.

But then I think about Scott Herr the person and so many of the remarkable stories told by friends and loved ones, and suddenly it dawns on me how best to describe him, at least in baseball terms. So here goes:

Now batting, #1, Scott Herr, (crowd cheers) lifetime batting average: .999

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