Lynch player gone, not forgottenColin Bodensteiner remembered as person who made world better place

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01:57 AM CDT on Saturday, October 14, 2006
FORT WORTH – After a game earlier this season, Bishop Lynch coach Paul Maturi wished that he had played Colin Bodensteiner more. The junior had practiced hard all week and had played well in the game.
So when it was over, Maturi found Bodensteiner in the locker room and apologized for not playing him more. The outside linebacker just smiled at his coach.
"Don't worry about it," he said. "We won."
That's when Maturi knew that Bodensteiner "got it." He understood that playing football was about the team, not him.
High Schools
It was always that way with Bodensteiner. Until Friday night.
At Doskocil Stadium, private-school powers Bishop Lynch and Nolan battled in their biggest regular-season game of the year. For the teams that have combined to win four straight TAPPS state titles, it was all about getting an early edge in the district race.
But minutes before kickoff, it was all about Bodensteiner, who died last week in a traffic accident while driving home from a game. He was 16.
Players from both teams bowed their heads in prayer for Bodensteiner. They also observed a moment of silence, making the stadium so quiet that all you could hear were the lights buzzing above and some sniffles on the sidelines.
Just a week earlier, Bodensteiner was in the shadows of his teammates. On Friday night, he was in their hearts. They wore his number – 82 – on their helmets and on black armbands. Some had his number imprinted in their eye black.
It was a time to remember the fragility of life. But also a time to remember to live life to its fullest, which Bodensteiner seemed to do. Friends said Bodensteiner, who split time on the junior varsity and varsity teams, loved to have fun.
He always had a smile on his face, they said.
And almost as often, he was putting a smile on another face.
"If I could take a piece of clay and mold the perfect son, he was it," said Colin's father, Tom Bodensteiner. "He was everything I could ask for. He was smart, funny and he was my friend."
He was a friend to a lot of people. And he was a good athlete, too. Bodensteiner was progressing each week, Maturi said, and would probably have been a starter next season. He was also on the Bishop Lynch baseball team, playing several positions including catcher and pitcher.
"Whenever I got down, Colin would always be there to bring me up," said Kurt Zihlman, a junior who plays on the football and baseball teams. "That's one of the things that I just loved about him."
And that's one of the things that made Bodensteiner a winner, his coach said. Colin's victories were – and will be – measured in his effect on people.
"As long as Bishop Lynch is around, students are going to know about Colin Bodensteiner," Maturi said. "They're going to remember how a young man with a great attitude and positive outlook on life affected and brought joy to a lot of people."
And remember how, in just 16 years, he made the world a better place.
"He did," Zihlman said. "He definitely did."
E-mail mwixon@dallasnews.com
Family establishes scholarship fund
The Bodensteiner family has established a scholarship fund for students in financial need, in memory of Colin. If you are interested in contributing to this fund, you can donate online at https://payments.auction pay.com/ver3/?id=w025672 or mail your donation to: Jim Urbanus, Vice President of Advancement, Bishop Lynch High School, 9750 Ferguson Road, Dallas, 75228, attn: Colin Bodensteiner Scholarship Fund.
From Staff Reports

I sometimes think there is some truth to the saying "only the good die young." I also have thought since the judicial coup of 2000 and the "inside job" of 2001 that we may also see fulfilled the saying "the living will envy the dead."