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Scooter Will Be Missed

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 23, 2008

BRANDON It was a high-school football jamboree, but it was more than that. You knew it as players from Brandon, Bloomingdale, Riverview and East Bay lined up until they made a square on Brandon's football field. You knew it by the silence. It was for a kid who never gave up, a kid who will never grow up.

His name was Rex Ballenger Jr., his nickname was "Scooter," and he was a three-year starter at quarterback for East Bay High School. He was 18 when he was taken off life support at Tampa General Hospital on Monday, two days after his car hit the back of a tractor-trailer, a mile from the field where he ran East Bay's wishbone.

And so there was a moment of silence. Among the silent East Bay Indians was junior fullback Chaz Burrows, who, for this night only, wore No. 10 - Rex's number.

"He was my friend," Chaz said. "And always will be."

He Was 'Full Of Life'

Rex Ballenger finished up his football last fall. He was to have graduated next Wednesday.

"He was full of life," East Bay coach Brian Thornton said.

Rex was never known for silence. You knew it a few minutes after the moment of si lence, as East Bay and Riverview prepared to play. Air horns split the night.

It was Rex's pickup truck - a souped-up 1989 Chevy low-rider, loaded with chrome and speakers, and those horns. Rex loved the noise the air horns made. Everybody knew he was coming. He'd only had the truck a few weeks. He was driving his mom's car when he crashed. It was early Saturday morning. He wasn't wearing his seat belt.

Thursday night, Rex Ballenger Sr. drove his boy's pickup truck. Police let him steer it onto the track that circles the Brandon football field. Some people smiled when they heard those horns. Some cried. Some wore T-shirts they'd had made, with Rex's face and name on it, or one of his nicknames, "Sexy Rexy." Rex loved that nickname. That was just Rex.

"Rex was full of fun," said his childhood friend and East Bay teammate Clay Schafstall. Clay and a few of the kids, including Rex's girlfriend, Jessica Stubbs, got tattoos honoring Rex.

Sitting in the bleachers at Brandon, Rex Sr. showed you a sympathy card. It was from the Brandon football team. The players and coaches had signed it. Rex's mom, Janell, stood on her seat and whistled. You always know when the Ballengers are pulling for the Indians. It was like that with Rex.

"He just went all-out," his mom said.

Rex Sr. said he gave his son the nickname "Scooter" the day he was born.

"He moved around in that crib, scooting everywhere. He was already in a hurry."

Scooter could fly. And he was full of fight. He was only 5-foot-9, but his coach called him "one tough kid." Brian Thornton sat in his East Bay office Thursday morning and talked about Rex's senior season, about the ankle injury he battled. It was a high ankle sprain. Week after week, Rex limped around in a boot, until game night, when he'd get taped and go play. That was just Rex.

"Gritty as they come," Thornton said.

"First time, first game after the injury, Rex scoots 60, 70 yards for a score," Chaz Burrows said.

They grew up playing ball together. Chaz called his friend Sexy Rexy.

"He called me Chaz Breezy," Chaz said.

They last saw each other last week, in a hall at school.

"I said 'What's up?' " Chaz said. "He told a joke then went down the hall."

Paying Their Respects

Thursday morning, Brian Thornton lifted a sealed envelope off his desk. Inside was Rex's official high school transcript. The coach was supposed to send it to Midland Lutheran College in Nebraska. Instead, the college is sending flowers.

The coach lifted up a 2008 East Bay yearbook. It belonged to Rex. You see, Rex had never ordered one. So his friends got one for him after he was gone - and signed it. It looks like any other kid's yearbook, bursting with loving scribble and notes written in big markers and pens, with hearts and cartoons - only all the notes say goodbye.

"I always thought you were invincible."

"You've been an inspiration."

"I know you're throwing a football in heaven."

There's a memorial for Rex Lee Ballenger Jr., tonight at Vance V. Vogel Park in Gibsonton. Two letters came to the Ballenger home in Apollo Beach on Thursday, both from colleges pleased to tell Rex he had been accepted for the fall semester.

East Bay lost to Riverview, 13-12. Chaz Burrows kept thinking about his friend. In the stands, Rex Ballenger's parents pulled hard for East Bay, and Chaz, and for Rex's number one last time (the school hopes to retire it). The Ballengers hugged East Bay kids and told them to remember to buckle up.

Chaz thinks he knows what his friend was thinking Thursday.

"Man, I hate losing to Riverview."

That was just Rex.

The blue pickup pulled out of the stadium, into the night.

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