HOMER GLEN – A coach Tuesday described the death of former Lockport Township High School football player Zachary Lammers as tragic.
At 2:55 a.m. on Monday, Lammers, 27, was found unresponsive by Chicago police after falling from the 56th floor of the balcony of a building in the 200 block of North Columbus Drive in Chicago, authorities said.
Chicago police said the death appears to be accidental and officers are still investigating.
"It's so tragic," said Jim Hall, a former assistant football coach at Lockport High School. "He had so much to live for and so much to give."
Lammers is a former resident of Homer Glen and was on Lockport high school football teams that won state titles in 2002 and 2003. He played receiver on the 2003 team. Lammers went on to Brown University in the Ivy League.
"He had so much to live for and so much to give," Hall said. Hall found it difficult to talk, overcome by emotion, and said Lammers was "one of the best kids you're ever going to coach."
Hall said he spoke with Lammers' mother Tuesday morning.
Lammers had been back to visit with Lockport football players just last month, Hall said.
Lammers' name was mentioned in The Herald-News in a July 2 article in which former Lockport Head Coach Bret Kooi described his current group of receivers at Lemont High School as having the potential to be among the best he has coached. Mentioning Lammers and two others, Kooi said "that group was pretty talented."