Just more than a week after Eddren Chester’s death, the widespread impact made by the 2023 Jones County High School graduate and former Greyhound standout was on full display.
Friends, family, coaches and his current and former teammates gathered on Saturday morning at East Macon’s New Fellowship Baptist Church to remember Chester. In addition to friends and family, attendees included coaches and teammates from both JCHS as well as those from Reinhardt College, where Chester signed on to play football after his high school career.
The gravity of those gathered was not lost on New Fellowship’s pastor, Rev. Dr. James Bumpus, during the service.
“East Macon has come out; Jones County has come out. Teammates and classmates are here,” Bumpus said.
Jones County head football coach Mike Chastain recalled being told about Chester shortly after taking the job as head coach at Jones County from outgoing Greyhounds head coach Justin Rogers.
“I remember Coach Rogers telling me about what a good class we had coming up, and I remember hearing about Eddren and about how good of guy he was,” Chastain said.
Chastain said that, according to Rogers, Chester stood out while an eighth grader in the Greyhounds postseason loss to Bainbridge. And it had nothing to do with any on-field play made by the then-middle schooler.
“He said, ‘that night, we struggled, but there was one kid that led this team probably more than any other player, and it was an eighth-grader named Ed Chester,” Chastain said while recalling what he was told by Rogers. “He encouraged our guys all night long to keep fighting.’” That drive to make others and the team better translated over for Chester once he joined the JCHS roster, becoming the epitome of what coaches would describe as a team player.
“Ed was a guy who always came to work. You could always count on him to be there. He gave his all during all the practices and workouts. His coaches knew that they could count on him to put effort in. Besides his leadership, we also saw how unselfish Ed was; he was always about the team. He played just about everywhere on offense besides the offensive line. He was willing to try anything we asked of him.”
Willie McCloud, Chester’s position coach at Reinhardt, shared about how Chester impacted the Eagles off the field.
“In our receiver room, we have lots of different personalities,” McCloud said. “But there was only one young man in that room who ever said anything other than ‘yes sir,’ and that was Eddren Chester. I never went to sleep worrying about him.”
That part of Chester was evident according to Bumpus, as well.
“One of the most striking things is his fundamental respect for his parents and authority.
That respect showed itself through these simple words, ‘yes sir and yes ma’am,” Bumpus said.
“How much better would our society be if more of our young people had that fundamental respect for themselves, authority and coaches in such a way that they would respond with these two simple words, ‘yes ma’am and yes sir?”
But despite anything Chester accomplished on the field, one thing, Chastain said, stood out more than anything else.
“The best thing I remember about Ed was his smile. He could light up the room and was so personable,” Chastain said. “He wasn’t a guy who was always on his phone; he always paid attention and engaged with others.”
And based on the gathering of friends and teammates on Saturday, Chester touched the lives of many.
“Eddren was a good dude,” McCloud said. “He loved his friends more than anything.”
