Before the Virginia football team walked onto the field at Scott Stadium Saturday surrounded by cheers and shouts of “UVa Strong” honoring their fallen teammates, the university took a moment to quietly memorialize Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry.
‘PLANTED WITH CARE’
Photos | UVa plants oak sapling in memorial for slain football players
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From left to right, Happy Perry, D’Sean Perry’s mother; Marilyn Whitehead, D’Sean Perry’s grandmother; and Carla Williams, Virginia athletic director, walk together during the tree-planting ceremony honoring Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry on Friday.
Family, friends, faculty and staff line up to help shovel dirt during the tree-planting ceremony honoring Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
Dirt is shoveled at the base of the tree during the tree-planting ceremony honoring Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry.
The University of Virginia honored fallen football players Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D'Sean Perry by planting a tree on the school's Arts Grounds on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
Left, Mike Hollins, running back for the Virginia football team and injured from the shooting that took the lives of Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D'Sean Perry, holds his shirt over his face and stands next to his mother during a tree-planting ceremony for his fallen teammates on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
Shovels and a wreath are seen on the University of Virginia Arts Grounds during a tree-planting ceremony honoring the late Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D'Sean Perry on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
A portrait of the late D'Sean Perry in the window of Culbreth Theater on the University of Virginia Arts Grounds is seen on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
Left, Jim Ryan, University of Virginia president, walks with a shovel to help the family of D'Sean Perry plant a tree honoring Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and Perry on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
From left to right, Jim Ryan, University of Virginia president, embraces Happy Perry, mother of D’Sean Perry, before the tree-planting ceremony honoring her late son on Sept. 8.
Shovels wait in a line for a tree-planting ceremony honoring Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D'Sean Perry on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
“Here, we have a promise to our three who’ve passed.”
