Coach Dwight Downer had just parked his car and was taking the short walk home last weekend when he was hit and killed by a driver in a tragic crash.
The youth football coach volunteered his time as a coach with the Bronx Buccaneers Youth Football Program and the teams at Dewitt Clinton High School.
“I always say, I got to see the softer side of him. I got to see that really gentle, loving, tender man, and that’s what I’m gonna miss,” Tasha Andrews said.
To Andrews, Dwight Downer was a partner in life.
To kids across the Bronx, he was Coach D.
“He was the one who made that impact. He was the one who really devoted his life to them,” Andrews said Monday.
The 60-year-old was killed in a chain reaction crash steps from his home in Baychester. Early Saturday morning, police said the driver of a BMW crashed into a pickup truck, two parked cars and then struck Downer.
“It’s devastating that people would just have no concern for life, not only their life but the life of others,” Andrews said.
Downer had a son and daughter of his own, but Andrews, who is the general manager of the Buccaneers, said many kids in the program called him dad, too. He gave them everything, she said Monday.
One time a player showed up to practice without cleats.
“He took off his cleats and gave it to the kid who didn’t have them, and that’s the kind of person he was,” Andrews recalled.
There is a vigil planned for Coach D at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at the Williamsbridge Oval football field.
