After hearing the news that his classmate and former teammate Marc Bender had been killed in an accident on a rural Boone County road early Monday morning, Weston Shepard felt compelled to bring together some of Bender’s friends. He texted a dozen of his teammates from last year’s Marengo football team and told them to meet him at the football field that night.

“It started as 12 people meeting at 8:30,” Shepard said. “When I showed up at about 8:10, there were about 60 people there waiting for me on the track.”

The gathering at the high school turned into an evening of prayer and support after the death of Bender, an 18-year-old 2015 Marengo graduate who had played football and baseball for the Indians.

According to the Boone County Coroner, Bender died around 4 a.m. Monday when he was struck by a pickup truck traveling north on the 2300 block of Shattuck Road.

Upon realizing a pedestrian was in the roadway, the driver stopped and called the sheriff’s office. Bender was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident is under investigation by the Illinois State Police.

The news of Bender’s death spread among his friends Monday afternoon. Many of Bender’s friends and teammates posted tributes on social media, with several football players dedicating the upcoming season to their former teammate.

Friends described Bender as a person who always had a smile on his face and wanted to make his friends happy.

“No matter what, he wanted to just have fun,” Marengo senior Trevor Nelsen said. “I‘ve never seen Marc upset. I’ve never seen Marc not like someone. If you were around Marc, you know you were gonna have a good time.”

Dillon Csanda, who refers to Bender as his best friend and brother, said the memories hit him particularly hard when he approached the football field Monday night. He and Bender bonded while working for Ohana Farms, which Csanda’s parents run, and he had fond memories of his friend from the football field.

“He’s a small kid, he’s always been small, but he was one of the toughest kids on he team,” Csanda said. “He was a great leader. He kind of kept a smile on everybody’s faces. ... Without him, football would not have been the same.”

On Monday night, he thought back to the team’s game against Burlington Central last year, when he and Bender had been talking on the sideline and Csanda mentioned that the team needed a turnover.

“Next play, he got an interception. They caught a picture of me and him celebrating,” said Csanda. “It went in the newspaper the next day. Right when I went up to the field, I thought of that and saw the spot where it happened. I just broke down. It was very emotional for all the football players.”

On Monday night, Shepard led the group in prayer and players said Indians football coach Matt Lynch spoke as well. The former football players said the current team had discussed honoring Bender with a jersey patch or flag with his No. 12 on it but hadn’t decided on anything yet.

“The community is trying to stick together as much as we can and not let anyone try to deal with this alone,” Nelsen said.