RELATED STORIES

• Oct. 13, 1998: Hundreds gather at memorial for Naples' Larabell
• Oct. 11, 1998: ''It was great to have him around''
• Oct. 11, 1998: Family's vigil for injured player ends
• Oct. 5, 1998: Tough questions to answer for Naples' Kramer, Immokalee's Weber
• Oct. 4, 1998: About 200 people gather to pray for NHS football player Larabell
• Oct. 2, 1998: NHS football player Larabell collapses after game, in critical condition
• Death of Naples High football player inspires 10 years later

More Naples High School Football

• Prep/youth football: Naples High's Alajajian, Naples Gators' Brown shine in all-star games
• Prep football: Naples High's Alajajian in U.S. Army All-American Bowl today
• 2008 Fall All-Area Teams: Football

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Share and Enjoy [?]

NAPLES — His Naples High football jersey hung beside a photo of Rusty as a baby cradling a football.

His teammates and classmates held hands and shared hugs and quiet whispers.

His mother, brothers and sisters listened as the celebration of Rusty -- his spirit and his strength -- came from around the Collier County community during a special memorial service for the Naples High football player who died Sunday.

In their own words and in some of the 16-year-old's poems and writings they remembered Russell " Rusty " Larabell who died at Naples Community Hospital. He had complained of a headache and collapsed after an Oct. 1 Naples High junior varsity football game. He spent 10 days in a deep coma before his family removed Rusty from life support on Sunday after doctors said there was not any sign that he would improve. Exactly what caused the teen's death was still not known Tuesday pending autopsy results from the Collier County Medical Examiner's Office.

"We hoped for a miracle in a different way," his sister Polly Finn told several hundred people, most of them teenagers, gathered at a memorial service at First Baptist Church in North Naples. "But God knows best."

Rusty, who started at Naples High just this year, was remembered in photos, a dozen posterboards plastered with his family's memories of the friendly, always-smiling, always-helpful teenager who touched so many lives in the very short time he had been in Naples.

His sister read a list of Rusty 's writings about his childhood dreams, from seeing the Statue of Liberty to meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger and becoming the "president of St. Louis," where he lived up until this year.

"We couldn't tell you enough how much we loved Rusty," she told the crowd as she fought back tears.

Bill Kramer, the Naples High football coach, remembered how Rusty was a real competitor and a team player. He'd spend hours in the gym lifting weights or shooting baskets and then stay an extra two hours to help clean up the weight room.

"He was happy to do it," Kramer said. "That was Rusty ."

Naples High wrestling coach Cory Kness, who was Rusty 's teacher and who had talked to the teen about wrestling many times, said it was the boy's strong faith in God that helped his family and friends through the waiting.

"You know, God was a wrestling fan. God's letting him wrestle with the angels. From what I hear those angels had better watch out because I hear from his brothers that Rusty's pretty good."

The 10-day vigil at the hospital bonded a family and made them stronger -- for Rusty -- and because of him.

"I can't remember the number of times I heard you say, 'I can't take this anymore ... Yet you had strength for another day,'" said the Rev. Michael Harper, the NCH chaplain who helped the family cope while Rusty was in a coma. "That strength was from Rusty."

Burial will take place in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, where his father, Donald, who died of a heart attack in October 1995 is buried.