On August 9, 2020, 16-year-old Jake Panus was killed in a car accident on Block Island, Rhode Island. Five students from Fairfield (Ct) Ludlowe High School, including Panus, were in the vehicle when it crashed into a pole. Jake was sitting in the passenger seat, and the head injuries he sustained proved to be fatal. In Jake’s obituary, the young man is remembered as “a shining light” and “the life of any gathering”. 

In lieu of flowers, Jake’s family created a memorial scholarship fund to provide financial assistance for post-secondary education to the children from Red Shirt Table on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

In the Summer of 2019, Jake had joined his church on a mission trip to Pine Ridge in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota. The experience truly moved Jake, and he loved having an opportunity to help an underserved population.

Jake connected with the people at Red Cloud Indian School, and had been looking forward to continuing his mission work. Since Jake was unable to fulfill his goals in the flesh, his father took action on his behalf. From the wreckage of a senseless tragedy, a magical and perpetual tribute has been born. The spirit of Jake Panus endures.  

“As Jake’s father I felt a responsibility, if not a duty, to ensure that Jake accomplished in spirit what he intended to do while he was here with us,” Stephen Panus told OSDB. “Jake was an immense, magnetic personality who lived his life lifting up others. He was authentic in every sense of the word, and welcomed everyone with an infectious and perpetual smile. His charismatic personality, supreme confidence, and selfless sense of compassion and kindness emerged early in his formative years. 

“Days following Jake’s tragic death, despite being in a state of shock and intense trauma, we knew that we didn’t need nor want flowers. Nor would Jake. Rather, he wanted to make a difference for the less fortunate, so we created The Jake Panus Memorial Scholarship Fund in partnership with our church, Southport Congregational Church (Jake’s spiritual home).

The Jake Panus Memorial Scholarship Fund provides annual post-secondary education financial assistance to children from Red Shirt Table who graduate from Red Cloud Indian School and desire to pursue a post-secondary education. In this way, Jake’s spirit, energy, and love will perpetually lift up, encourage, inspire, and support the children he loved so much and provide them with a tangible pathway to college.”

Jake’s goodwill is being paid forward at Red Cloud, and so far Rubi Good Buffalo and Cheree Ferguson have received assistance in Jake’s name. Both young women are currently attending Black Hills State University. Jake was smitten with his first taste of mission work in South Dakota, and that positive energy has been converted into posthumous charity. These ripples are being felt well beyond Oglala Lakota County, too. 

From a young age, Jake rocked a South Carolina Gamecocks jersey, and he always dreamed of playing football at SC. Jake was unable to personally realize his dream, but thanks to his father Stephen, and Gamecocks’ head football coach Shane Beamer, Jake’s essence lives on in Columbia, South Carolina and through the Gamecock Nation. 

“Two days before Christmas in 2020, I received an out-of-the-blue phone call from the newly-hired University of South Carolina Head Football Coach, Shane Beamer,” Panus recalled to OSDB Sports. “Shane had been informed by a mutual friend of our tragedy and Jake’s love for the University of South Carolina and its football program. 

From that initial phone call emerged a friendship and, soon, an idea. I recognized that there in fact was a way to ensure that Jake realized his dream of getting to the University of South Carolina while fulfilling his legacy of lifting up others. So in partnership with the University of South Carolina athletic department and Head Coach Shane Beamer, we created The Jake Panus Walk-On Football Endowed Scholarship.”

The Jake Panus Walk-On Football Endowed Scholarship has been awarded twice. For those of us keeping score, a total of four scholarships have been provided in Jake’s name during the last two plus years since Jake’s tragic passing. 

The first recipient of the scholarship was long-snapper Matthew Bailey. A beautiful cascading rainbow graced the sky over Williams-Brice Stadium during the presentation of this inaugural award. Jake’s father Stephen, along with Coach Beamer, addressed the team and presented the scholarship to Bailey in an incredibly emotional moment. 

USC speech: Jake Panus Walk-On Football Scholarship

The second Gamecocks’ player to be awarded Jake’s scholarship was wide receiver Payton Mangrum. Both Bailey and Mangrum demonstrated qualities that Coach Beamer and his staff recognized as above and beyond, and deserving of the scholarship. 

“They are two unselfish players that have worked really hard and have earned it,” Coach Beamer told OSDB. “Matthew and Payton embody everything that this scholarship is about: spirit, work ethic, and love for South Carolina.”    

In Stephen Panus’s own words: “This scholarship provides a walk-on football player who, through hard work and perseverance, earns an athletic scholarship and contributes toward the success of the University, the Gamecock football team, and the community at large. The student-athlete will share the leadership attributes of Jake, while demonstrating a motivated work ethic, fierce determination, team-first mentality, and grit on the football field. 

“Most importantly, the scholarship will live in perpetuity at the University of South Carolina as a result of the goodness and unselfishness of an array of donors. Coach Beamer, the athletic department, and Gamecock Nation have been incredibly supportive of the Jake Panus Walk-On Scholarship and I can't thank them enough.”      

“As Deborah Morris Coryell wrote in her book “Good Grief: Healing Through the Shadow of Loss”: “According to the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition, a life does not truly begin until after a person dies. It's said that it is the PRESENCE that we continue to have after we are no longer PRESENT that acknowledges the power of our being. Our deeds and actions are the way we make our presence felt in the world, and to the extent that we continue to influence and impact people's lives after we are dead, we continue to live.” 

“In this sense, through the establishment of the two scholarship funds, Jake will forever influence and positively impact many, many children. Dreams will become realities and lives will be indelibly altered; this time, however, in a most positive, luminous, and loving manner. While Jake’s dreams are no longer possible, he will in spirit ensure that the dreams of many others will be inspired, realized, and fulfilled.” 

If you have interest in learning more about Jake’s scholarships or making a donation, please visit: Jake Panus Walk-On Football Endowed Scholarship - University of South Carolina.