David Pollard was doing everything in his power to turn around the baseball program at Carver High School in Columbus.
Hours before his team was scheduled to take the field against LaGrange High School, Pollard was killed Monday in a three-vehicle accident involving a stolen car.
According to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, he was headed to a hardware store to pick up chalk to line the fields for Monday’s game at the time of the fatal crash.
“His work ethic was phenomenal,” said Charles Flowers, who coached Pollard in baseball and football at Shaw High School in the 1990s. “Even when he wasn’t in the game, he had that coaching mentality. He always wanted to make an impact.”
Pollard, 36, was “respected by all who knew him,” Muscogee County School District Superintendent David Lewis told the newspaper. “The students he taught and coached have been profoundly touched by this senseless tragedy.”
Pollard was married with one daughter.
After the crash at the intersection of Buena Vista and Andrews roads, the driver of the stolen vehicle took off running. Police said he has not been found.
