Hundreds from across the Black Belt filled two churches on Wednesday for the funeral service of Morgan Academy football player Caden Tellier, who died after a head injury during a game last month.
Caden’s friends and family packed Christ the King Church on Highland Avenue in Selma for the in-person service, while other supporters watched a live broadcast of the funeral a mile away at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church on Broad Street. The service was also live-streamed on social media.
His coffin covered in a white cloth and standing in the center aisle of his childhood church, Caden was honored as a good student, son, athlete and Christian who Arch Bishop Charles W. Jones said was “swallowed up by life” on Aug. 23 when he had a brain bleed after being tackled at the Morgan vs Southern Academy game on his home field. He was declared dead the next day at UAB Hospital in Birmingham.
“It was his time,” he said.
Caden’s impact on others drew a crowd that included football players and friends from neighboring schools including Southern, Wilcox and Lowndes academies.
Caden’s father, Jamie Tellier, said he has gotten regular texts of support from head football coaches around the SEC, including Kalen DeBoer of The University of Alabama, Hugh Freeze of Auburn University and Trent Dilfer at UAB.
Tellier spoke for his wife, Arsella, and their daughter Lyla, saying they are “heartbroken” and love reading the stories friends have sent about how Caden impacted their lives and encouraged folks to keep sending the stories, saying he would share an email address on social media.
Four years older than Lyla, Caden was “her hero” and loved being a protective big brother, Tellier said. He had a lot of friends and served as a “big brother figure” to many. Jamie Tellier spoke highly of Caden’s girlfriend, Brooke Waters, who is also a junior at Morgan and was the “love of Caden’s life.”
Athletics were important to Caden, who was a “perfectionist” and loved practicing skills for baseball and football, Tellier said.
Tellier served as a coach for Caden’s teams and would take him for extra practice any time he asked, which he encouraged other fathers out there to do when their kids ask.
Caden found the Lord at a young age, Tellier said, and enjoyed youth group and church activities. After his death, his family found a card in his Bible that Caden wrote on a year ago after a Me + Motion church event last year. The message is supposed to be between him and the Lord, but Tellier said he didn’t know when he wrote it that the Lord would be calling him home so soon.
It said: “The Lord is calling me to go and to lead the next generation. He’s calling me to show others the love of our God. I don’t know where he’s going to take me to do this, whether it’s being a preacher or using my resources as an athlete. Whatever it is, I am up for the challenge.”
Following the service, cars led in a procession from Christ the King to Cornerstone, where other cars joined in to New Live Oak, where Caden Tellier was buried.
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