By Tracie Sullivan, For Iron County Today
Under the stadium lights on Oct. 17, Cedar High held its Senior Night recognition at the Reds’ home field. A row of football players and students stood shoulder to shoulder with their families as each name was called. Then came one that hadn’t been spoken on that field in years.
When the announcer read Beckem Winslow’s name, two teammates stepped forward carrying a red No. 30 jersey.
It was Beckem’s jersey — a symbol of the boy who should have been standing there as part of the football team.
Beckem died on Oct. 24, 2021, when he was just 13 years old. But among most of the football players who stood on that field, the same boys who played beside him since third grade, his memory has never faded.
“Even though he’s not here, he’s still part of us,” said Cedar High senior and football player Brent Martin, who helped organize the tribute. “He was a part of this team and a part of our lives. We wanted to walk him out with us because he should be here.”
The idea for the tribute came after Martin and teammate Dominic McGarvey had seen another school do the same thing online and decided to bring the idea to their coaches. They borrowed one of Beckem’s jerseys from his family, and the coaches agreed to include it as part of Senior Night.
“It was heartbreaking and heartwarming,” Martin said. “I had to hold back tears.”
A Friendship That Never Faded
Most of the boys who stood on that field had known each other since elementary school. They were the same group that spent their childhoods together — on ball fields, in backyards, piling into trucks, fishing, and getting into just enough trouble to feel like they were living.
“We were always together,” McGarvey said. “Fishing, messing around, playing sports. I was with him every day.”
To his family, the boy others talk about is the same one they knew at home — loud, funny, loyal.
His father, Chris Winslow, said that loyalty showed up most in how he cared for his friends. “He was really loyal to his friends,” Chris said. “He’d do anything for them.”
That loyalty is also what held this group together. Martin said he still tries to carry that forward.
“Every game, I say a prayer before I play and I think of him,” Martin said. “I try to work as hard as he did. I try to be the kind of friend he was. I wouldn’t be who I am today without him.”
Chris saw that same drive everywhere — in the yard, on a field, anywhere his son had a ball in his hands.
“He was always pushing to be better,” he said. “He just had that in him. He would be outside hitting baseballs in the yard in the snow, or playing catch with me and his little brother.”
‘We’ve Carried Him With Us’
This year’s senior night fell one week before the four-year anniversary of Beckem’s death on Oct. 24. His friends say that date never passes quietly. They still reach out to his family, still check in on one another, still feel that absence.
“They’ve been really good about reaching out to me, especially on days like his birthday or the anniversary of when he died,” Chris said. “They’ll text to check in. They’ve treated my younger kids like family. They’ve treated me like family. It’s been pretty amazing to see how they’ve carried him these four years.”
Beckem was raised by the Chris and Kassy Winslow, who described him as “larger than life,” with a laugh that pulled everyone in. His biological mother, Nikki Dastrup, also remained part of his life.
“To me, as long as people are still talking about him, he’s still here,” Kassy said. “It means everything that his friends have kept him with them. It’s really something to watch.”
A Season They’ll Remember
This year, Cedar High — the Reds — are in the middle of something rare. The team is undefeated, with two regular-season games still ahead before the state playoffs begin on Nov. 15. But for this group, the season has never just been about a record.
School resource officer Justin Ludlow has known these boys for most of their lives. He coached them in youth sports, and his son, Payton Ludlow, is one of the seniors on the field this year and part of the same circle of boys who grew up with Beckem.
He’s watched them grow up in the same backyards, the same gyms, the same pickup games, dugouts and locker rooms. And now, he said, that same closeness is showing up on the field.
“Here you have this football team that’s undefeated,” Ludlow said. “Cedar’s never had years like this. They were 8–0 in 1954 and again in 1980, but they’ve never been 9–0. And now they’re 10–0. Cedar has never done this. And Cedar has never won a state championship in football. Ever.”
Ludlow believes the reason goes deeper than talent.
“These boys have been together since they were little,” he said. “They care about each other. They play for each other. And they play for Beckem.”
And that’s why senior night mattered.
It wasn’t about ceremony or show.
It was about paying tribute to Beckem.
When Martin and McGarvey carried the No. 30 jersey to the front of the line, the meaning was understood by the boys who grew up with him — the ones who still talk about him, still play together, still carry him with them. Because remembering Beckem has never been a one-time thing for them. It’s something that continues.
“It helped all of us,” McGarvey said. “It reminded us we’re not alone. He’s still our friend.”
