Instead of attending classes today, many Hillsdale College students are paying final respects to classmate and teammate Adam Emery, whose death Saturday stunned family and friends.
Emery, an 18-year-old freshman who played on the Chargers' football team, died of what police have called an apparent suicide.
Police are still investigating the death. An autopsy has been conducted, but police have not yet received the report, Detective Brad Martin said.
Hillsdale City Police responded to a call from campus just after 1 a.m. Saturday, after Emery was found unconscious in his Simpson Hall dorm room, Martin said. The Hillsdale County medical examiner pronounced Emery dead shortly thereafter.
Nearly 100 Hillsdale College students and staff will travel today to Rockford, Mich., which is near Grand Rapids, to attend Emery's funeral. The college plans a memorial in the next month. A prayer vigil, attended by Adam's parents, Cathy and Al Emery, was held on campus Saturday afternoon.
When Cathy Emery's phone rang at 1:34 a.m. Saturday she knew something was wrong.
“It was one of those late-night phone calls every parent fears,” she said.
The Emerys, of Cedar Springs, said they did not notice any changes in Adam's personality when they spoke on the phone with him Friday. Friends who saw him just hours before his death also said they did not notice anything out of the ordinary.
Adam liked to work out, play video games, and read and watch science-fiction material. His father, Al Emery, described him as a fantastic skier, also known for winning family bass-fishing competitions and performing water-tubing tricks with his brothers and friends.
“We never saw signs of depression or physical problems,” Cathy said. “He was the happiest I've ever seen him over Christmas break, gelling with his brothers and sisters. I didn't see anything that would precipitate something like this happening.”
Over break Adam told his mother he could not wait to come “home” to Hillsdale.
“He said he really liked it there,” she said. “I have this picture of him in his Hillsdale (football) uniform, and even though he didn't get to play, the smile on his face is just so overwhelming.”
Freshman football players Phil Davignon, Eric Weber, Palmer Schoening and David Kern met Emery during the first days of football camp and remained friends with him throughout the year. All agreed that Emery's smile was his trademark.
“Adam had a smile on his face every time you saw him, and he was always working hard,” said Schoening, Emery's teammate and pledge brother in the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.
Brian Busen, head football coach at Cedar Springs High School, also lauded Emery's work ethic.
“I had him in class as a student in economics and weight training, and as an athlete,” Busen said. “He's the hardest working kid I've ever had both in athletics and in the classroom. He was extremely loyal to his friends and was very committed to achieving his goals.”
President Larry Arnn also urged students to continue to lean on each other.
“As (the students) have wrestled with their grief they have been models of kindness and strength to one another,” he said. “Their warmth to the Emery family has made a profound impression upon them just when it was most urgently needed. … Now we should be looking to each other's care, as well as continuing to pray for Adam and his family.”
The Emerys said they appreciated the college personnel and students for their support during their time of grief.
“Tell everybody how much we love the students,” Cathy Emery said. “He touched their lives and they touched his.”