Starkville High School’s football program was stunned on Saturday morning when many woke up to the tragic news of the loss of one of their own.
Ian Reed, a young aspiring videographer lost his life early on Saturday morning in a tragic car accident on his way home from the Yellow Jackets’ victory over rival West Point on Friday night. According to an incident report, Reed was heading east towards Columbus from Starkville on Highway 82 when he was struck by a wrong-way driver in a Toyota Prius.
Both the wrong-way driver and Reed were killed near Waters Truck and Tractor.
The Prius had been stolen just 30 minutes prior to the incident and entered the wrong way of the highway at the Lee Stokes exit. The first call for the accident came in at 12:06 a.m.
The news brought an elated Starkville bunch back down to earth after their big win on Friday night. Reed had become a favorite among the players and coaches during his short stint with the team.
“You really enjoyed being around Ian at all times,” SHS football coach Chris Jones said. “Coaches loved him, players loved him and the Twitter folks started to love him. People started reaching out to me from all around the country about him and his videos. He put us on a pedestal. If you didn’t know better, you’d think he was a Starkville alum.”
Several players and coaches took to Twitter on Saturday morning to tweet their thoughts. Passing game coordinator Clayton Moore was the first to tweet the news, “RIP @ Coach_Reed14. Here one day gone the next! Rest up Big Bro! You could never be replaced! If we had more people like you in this world we would be okay! Love you bru.”
Senior linebacker Zach Edwards said, “RIP coach Reed… I appreciate everything you did for me coach. Gone too soon.”
Reed came to Starkville looking for opportunity. He started as an intern with WCBI in Columbus before reaching out to Jones for a chance to make highlight videos and continue to build his videography career. Jones said that he certainly left his mark with the team and made a lasting impression on the coach.
“He reached out to me on Twitter in January and asked if he could shoot videos,” Jones said. “He wanted to work for ESPN one day and wanted to work on his portfolio. I asked how much he wanted to charge, and he said he would do it for free. For him to have the passion and do it for free, it speaks a lot of him.”
Jones said it should be without question that the team will be dedicating the rest of the season to Reed and his memory.