'Being In The Presence Of Him Was Amazing:' Friends Honor Collinsville Teen Killed In Car Crash

Dozens of friends of a Collinsville High School student are remembering him Tuesday after he died in a car crash over the weekend.

Collinsville and McAlester played each other in a varsity softball game Tuesday night and held a moment of silence and fans wore blue, which was 16-year-old Gage Nunes' favorite color.

Nunes’ friends say he was the life of the party, made people laugh, and loved playing football.

They say his death is a devastating way to start the school year.

Kane Abshire was one of Nunes’ closest friends.

“Gage had the ability just to come into every room and just light up the whole room,” said Abshire. “He would make everybody smile, make everybody laugh. Just sitting there. He didn’t even have to do anything and we’d all be laughing at him.”

The teenagers also wore Nunes’ favorite color in the stands.

“We’re wearing all blue button-downs,” said Ian Eubanks, a lifelong friend of Nunes. “We had a fantasy football draft and this is what he wore. We just wanted to honor him, and blue is his favorite color.”

Nunes grew up in Collinsville and his youth pastor will be the pastor at the funeral.

“Love that kid,” said Ryan Amey, the Lead Pastor at the Collinsville Church of the Nazarene. “He’s always had a smile on his face, always happy. Ready to go do things. When I heard the news, I was heartbroken. For him, for his family, and for our community.”

Those closest to him say they are focusing on remembering the happy times.

“He had a lot of fun when he played, it was funny sometimes,” said Eubanks. “He’d make jokes on the sidelines whenever we were on kickoff and stuff like that, just waiting.”

“We’d always go up to Mazzio’s or go to someone’s house, sometimes we’d go swimming,” said Abshire. “We would just go eat. Just being in the presence of him was amazing, because he would always make us smile and make us laugh.”

They say they can’t wait until the day they see him again.

“We’ll all be together in those rooms that Jesus has gone to prepare for us,” said Amey. “When we get that call that it’s our time, we’ll all be together again.”

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says Nunes went through a stop sign into the path of an SUV.

The couple inside that SUV has critical injuries and one of their children was also hurt in the crash.

You can find the fundraisers for both families HERE and HERE.