Nate Fleming, an Oklahoma State University basketball player who died in the crash, was planning to pledge the fraternity.
Rob Shattuck, marketing junior, said he would remember Fleming not for basketball, but for his love of the guitar.
“Nate really liked the Dave Matthews Band,” Shattuck said. Fleming and Shattuck often taught each other songs on the guitar. At the service, Shattuck played “Amazing Grace,” while his fraternity brothers and the others who gathered to mourn sang along.
Stan Warfield, pastor of First United Methodist Church, spoke briefly about each victim, while a fraternity member lit 10 candles.
“Because of who we are as a family at OSU, you are feeling the loss,” Warfield told the crowd.
Warfield, who is also basketball coach Eddie Sutton’s pastor, spoke about the night of the accident and how those affected were coping with their pain.
“There are very few of us who will have the opportunity to die doing what we love to do,” Warfield said.
Teammate Fredrik Jönzén, who shared a house with Fleming, sat quietly in the corner, his face hidden by the rim of a ball cap. Another player, Guy Ikpah, brought his Bible and spoke to the crowd.
Ikpah talked about how he was recruited to OSU by Pat Noyes, men’s basketball administrative assistant who died in the crash.
Ikpah was a high school senior in New Jersey when OSU asked him to send film of his games for review. In March, after the Cowboys lost to Florida in the Elite Eight, Noyes called Ikpah to see why he had not yet sent the film.
“If it wasn’t for Pat, I wouldn’t even be here,” Ikpah said.Ikpah said by coming to OSU, he took the road less traveled.
“I’m asking myself, ‘I took this road for this?’ ” he said. “But God brought me here for a reason. My dad said maybe I wasn’t brought here to win a national championship.”
Chad Randall, Delt president, assured the gatherers that the doors of the Delt house would always be open.“Brotherhood sustains us,” he said. “In situations like this, it is best to be surrounded by friends.”
A woman in the audience who knew Jared Weiberg, also one of the 10 who died, offered some advice for overcoming the loss.
“All you have left are words and memories of these people,” she said. “Share them with other people. Don’t let that person die in grief.”
J.C. DeLeon, Fleming and Jönzén’s other roommate, said he was finally able to talk to Fleming’s mother, Ann.
“She was able to tell me that it was my responsibility to take all the good things I knew about Nate and to take them on myself,” DeLeon said.
Ikpah said several members of the team gathered Monday afternoon to play a few games with members of last year’s Elite Eight team. There was no formal practice, as Sutton had gone to Tulsa to witness the birth of his first granddaughter.
Ikpah said it was difficult to stand in the locker room and see Fleming and Lawson’s lockers — empty.“I pictured Nate, and I pictured Dan, and they’re playing this basketball game that never ends.”
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