Outpouring of support for Jacob Look
By JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post
BRIMFIELD – The tragic death of senior Jacob Look has generated an outpouring of support from the Brimfield community and elsewhere in central Illinois.
Look, 17, was found unresponsive in a hot tub by his parents on the evening of Dec. 6. Despite resuscitation efforts by his parents and first responders, Look died shortly after 4 a.m. on Dec. 7. Cause of death was drowning, according to Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood.
Friends, coaches and administrators uniformly praised Look as an outgoing and inclusive person. Last Sunday, hundreds attended a visitation and funeral service held in the Brimfield High School gymnasium, where Look had spent many hours practicing and playing as a member of the Indians basketball team.
Games for the boys team have been postponed since Look’s death, but practice resumed Monday. Brimfield was to play at home vs. Stark County on Wednesday and on Saturday at home vs. Payson-Seymour. Two other games this week were postponed due to COVID issues at the other schools.
“I think the overall feeling among the players is they are looking forward to getting back to play basketball because Jacob loved basketball and they want to get back involved in it for him,” Brimfield boys basketball coach Kevin Kreiter said.
In the past week, athletes from Bushnell-Prairie City, Abingdon-Avon and Farmington offered tributes to Look by wearing red to practice and games, and the entire Elmwood team attended Look’s services.
And last Friday, fans and players in Farmington’s boys game at Abingdon-Avon were encouraged to wear red in memory of Look.
“It was just amazing,” said Kreiter, who attended the “red-out” game. “It was not a spot of hit and miss red here and there. That whole place was red. It was very cool to see Farmington people wearing red.”
Money raised at the red-out game was donated to a GoFundMe page for the Jacob Look Memorial Scholarship. As of Tuesday evening, the fund had raised more than $20,100.
Look is the third Brimfield student to die in the past 16 months. Aaron Miller died in an auto accident in August of 2020 and 2020 graduate Benjamin Bedell died in a car accident in September of 2020.
“My heart breaks for our seniors,” Brimfield superintendent Tony Shinall told the Peoria Journal Star “For this group of kids to lose another person is devastating.”
