Naval Academy, hometown mourn sprint football player killed in Amtrak train crash

Published May. 14, 2015 3:44 p.m. ET

Sam Gardner

At 9 o’clock Wednesday morning in Annapolis, Maryland, Maj. Kavan Lake assembled the U.S. Naval Academy’s sprint football team together for the type of meeting no coach wants to hold.

Lake, a former walk-on under Bobby Bowden at Florida State and the Midshipmen head coach since 2012, had learned that one of his players, sophomore receiver Justin Zemser, died in the Amtrak derailment outside Philadelphia on his way home to New York the night before. Lake wanted to break the news of his passing to those who didn’t already know.

“We were in a classroom initially, but it just didn’t feel close enough,” Lake said of the meeting. “So we got out there on the practice field and got in a tight little circle and we talked about Justin and we talked about his impact on everybody.”

That impact, according to those who knew the 20-year-old from Rockaway Beach, New York, was tremendous, both on the gridiron and stretching far beyond.

It was on the field, Lake said, that Justin became more than a teammate, but a friend and a leader to the 64 other players who make up the Navy roster.

“Through everything he’s done, he’s touched everybody,” Lake said. “All the guys knew him, all the guys loved him, all the guys respected him and we wanted to honor him. So we got together as a team and prayed for him and prayed for his family and just let the guys grieve.”

Lake first met Zemser his freshman year at the Naval Academy. A valedictorian from Channel View School in Queens, Zemser was a two-time captain on the Beach Channel High School football team as well as an All-Borough Team selection. He knew he wanted to continue his career in college, so he tried out for the sprint team.

Sprint football is “football with a weight limit,” as Lake likes to say, as players weigh in twice a week and must measure at 172 pounds or lighter. Navy is one of the niche sport’s premier teams, and this season wrapped up its 36th Collegiate Sprint Football League championship in 69 years, a 7-0 campaign that ended with a 27-7 win over archrival Army on Halloween.

The 5-foot-8 Zemser didn’t make the team as a freshman, but he never began to let it shake his confidence.

“He came back and said, ‘Coach, I want to be a manager because I want to stay with the guys,’” Lake said. “You’ve got to be humble to do that, to put yourself in a position to say, ‘Well, I’m going to work for these guys until I get my shot again.’”

And that’s exactly what Zemser did.

“He grew so much as a player,” Lake said of Zemser’s development between his freshman and sophomore years. “I remember when he came back in the summer, we weren’t doing anything official but Justin was out there with one or two of his teammates working. You could see him running routes, and as a coach, when you see your players out on the field, you’ll stop and kind of watch. And it was one of those things where you’re like, ‘Hmmm, this kid looks good.’”

Zemser made the team as a sophomore and appeared in five games for the Midshipmen, catching three passes for 47 yards. His impact, however, went far beyond what he did between the lines.

“He’s one of those guys who’s not talking, not poking you to get in, but when he does get in, he’s going to show you that, ‘Hey, I deserve to be here,’” Lake said. “And when you meet this kid, you realize immediately that you’re talking to someone special. He’s relentless, and he works harder than most, and he just finds a way to get the job done.”

That’s a sentiment echoed by Patricia Tubridy, Zemser’s former principal at Channel View.

“He set a very high standard, not just academically, but athletically, and he was a very disciplined young man, too,” Tubridy said. “He set goals and he lived up to them, so he knew that whatever he planned to do, he was going to do.”

Justin Zimser in his Navy blues.

Zemser attended Channel View from sixth grade through his graduation in 2012 (Beach Channel HS was on the same campus). His presence, however, was felt even after he'd left, according to assistant principal Joe Featherston, because he’d regularly come back and continue to motivate the student body. A few weeks ago, Zemser returned to Channel View to address the school’s juniors and discuss planning for the next steps in their lives.

“He was dressed in his Navy blues and spoke to them to motivate them because it was their junior year and it’s so important for their future and being accepted into college,” Featherston said. “And he told the story that you have to make up your mind in life, and once you do make up your mind on what your goal is and what your life is set on, life becomes easy.

“He said that when he went to the Naval Academy, he realized after five or six weeks that everybody there worked hard and was dedicated and disciplined, and he decided that he was not going to be a middle-of-the-pack Midshipman, but he was going to be at the top. He realized that he was going to have to make sacrifices and made that decision that he wanted to be the best.

“He had a perfect 4.0 index that first semester at the Naval Academy, and he told our young people, ‘That’s what life takes. Make up your mind, stay focused, make sacrifices and stay disciplined, and then life will be very enjoyable.’”

Almost more remarkable, however, was Zemser’s impact in the community. While in high school, Zemser was a member of the school’s nature photography club, which did research in Jamaica Bay. He helped plant trees with MillionTrees NYC. He volunteered at Promenade nursing home in Rockaway Park, and at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen.

“He (was accepted into) Brooklyn Tech and he chose not to go,” Tubridy said. “I asked him why — as a principal I was thrilled he decided to go here, but sometimes when people make a school like that, they choose to go — and he told me that he loved the culture of our school and he loved that we were doing here in his community, and he wanted to be a part of it.”

Zemser also used his football know-how for a good cause, running practice sessions with local Special Olympians in his hometown. After high school football practice would end at 6, Zemser would head to a church gymnasium and run drills from 6:30 to 8. This past Columbus Day weekend, 65 of the athletes he once helped coach made the trip to Annapolis for Navy’s varsity football game against VMI, and of course, Zemser gave the group his full attention.

“After he went through his formation into the field, Justin came up and spent time with us at the game interacting with all the athletes, just hugging them and telling them how great they are,” said Featherston, who also works as the director of the local St. Camillus Special Olympics program.

“One great thing about (Special Olympics athletes) is that they feel the accomplishments of anyone who they’re associated with," Featherston remarked. "They have a great way of making it a part of their own accomplishments. So the fact that [Zemser] was on the field for the national anthem and he came up in his Navy blues and hung out with them, I think it really made them feel that they were part of the Naval Academy and they were part of the patriotism of the country.

“That’s kind of how he made everyone feel, that whatever he did, everybody around him was a part of that experience. He was a beyond perfect young man.”

Back at the Naval Academy, coach Lake said Zemser’s teammates have been taking their teammate’s death hard. When the team takes the field again in the fall, it will do so in Zemser’s memory. One of Zemser’s fellow receivers and friends, Corey Garcia, has already requested to wear Zemser’s No. 83 this season, and as the Midshipmen compete for yet another championship, they’ll do so with Zemser at the forefront of their minds.

“I basically told them that in life as a military person you lose people sometimes,” said Lake, a member of the Marine Corps since 1993. “It doesn’t make it any easier at all, but sometimes you’ve got to pick your bags back up and go back out. Still, it doesn’t mean that you don’t grieve. I told them, ‘Hey, let it out.’ I couldn’t hold it together while I was talking to the team. I was crying, the guys were crying. We’re men, but sometimes men cry. It’s part of the process of healing.”

Still, having to adjust to life without someone who shone as bright as Zemser is a reality no one seems quite ready to accept.

“Our country lost out on a great person in the Naval Academy and what he would have been,” Tubridy said. “He was one to give community service and give back, so you never know what we might have missed out on. He was just so special and whatever he decided he would do, he did, and he was disciplined enough to do it.”

His light, however, shines on.

“You just have to accept that there is a reason for this,” Tubridy continued. “I’m not one to question why. I’m just happy that he touched our lives.”

You can follow Sam Gardner on Twitter or email him at samgardnerfox@gmail.com.