Spokesman.com
Why every WA high school helmet will carry No. 3 this week
Twenty thousand helmet stickers are hitting Washington high school football fields this week. Every one of them carries No. 3.
That number belonged to Tyler Hilinski. He was a Washington State quarterback who died by suicide in 2018, with no visible signs of struggle. His parents, Mark and Kym, started Hilinski's Hope to make sure other families don't get that phone call without warning. The Washington State Football Coaches Association partnered with them, and with the Seattle Seahawks, to put those stickers on every helmet in the state. Tumwater coach Willie Garrow, who helped organize it, put it plain: "We're still dealing with 50 to 100 14-to-18-year-old boys. It's a good reminder that we have a greater responsibility than blocking and tackling."
Abe Lucas, the Coug who now plays offensive line for the Seahawks, recorded a video that coaches will show their teams. There will also be a 10-second moment of silence at the start of the third quarter of every varsity game across Washington. That's a lot of silence, and a lot of conversations starting at once.
This is what it looks like when a program keeps showing up after the tragedy. If you want to see how the current Cougs are handling their own business this week, check out "Cougs Take the Fight to Logan for a Friday Night Tilt." But this week, the biggest win might not have a scoreboard attached.
Go Cougs.
