“It was a huge turnout—it’s amazing how many people showed up!” This wasn’t a sporting event that Sandra Marshall was talking about. It was a car wash.

Marshall is the aunt of DeShawn Brown, the 16-year-old McClintock High School football and basketball player who died in a July automobile accident in Texas.

He was returning to the Valley in a van with his family, after a trip to Mississippi. His twin sister, KaShawn, and 10-yearold brother, Jonathan, were critically injured in the accident. They were transferred to Phoenix Children’s Hospital in late August, after their conditions were stabilized enough for the move.

Dozens of players from the McClintock football, basketball, and baseball teams, as well as member of the cheerleading squad, showed up at the high school the weekend after the accident to provide manpower at a car wash to raise funds for the Brown family, to help pay for funeral and hospital expenses.

Several other car washes were held after this first one, but this was the biggest fund-raiser. “We raised over $2,500,” says DeShawn’s aunt, who was on hand to help varsity football coach Steve Campbell and other coaches and parents organize and run the event.

Friends and coaches say that DeShawn was always smiling, one of the most popular players on his teams; he was expected to play wide receiver and free safety on the Chargers varsity squad this season.

To honor his memory throughout the season, his teammates have affixed stickers with his No. 2 uniform number to the sides of their helmets. Donations can be made at any branch of Washington Mutual in the name of Janice Brown, his mother.