Oates known for selflessness
Ex-scotties football player dies in crash caused by storm
High School football coach Dave Murello remembers Will Oates as a good kid, a quiet kid and one that would do anything for his friends.
Thus when he heard of the 24-year-old’s death, after a tree crashed down on his car when last Wednesday ’s storm ripped through the Capital Region, Murello said he “felt awful.”
“It’s not something that was in his control,” said Murello who was the Ballston Spa Scotties’ head football coach when Oates played from 2011 until he graduated in 2014. “It was a total freak accident. It could have been anyone driving on the road at that time.”
A member of the U.S. National Guard, Oates was to be laid to rest in Albany Rural Cemetery on Wednesday with military honors. He didn’t have a chance to dodge
the fallen tree on Pierce Road in Clifton Park. But Murello said Oates’ strength, speed and ability to dodge rivals on the gridiron were exceptional.
“Definitely, he was the strongest kid in school when he graduated,” Murello recalled. “I was always in the weight room with him. Some kids, you know they can do more
and you have to push them. But when Will was in the weight room, he came through and really pushed himself. For his size and how strong he was, he was extremely quick. It was kind of deceiving, but he had an outstanding closing speed. The distance he could carry. ... We would do stunts with him, just to get him moving. He was so quick off the ball. He made some big plays.”
Many of Oates’ teammates reached out to Murello on the day of accident, Oct. 7. They are among those who have donated to a Gofundme page set up by his brother Ugalee Oates Jr. to help raise money for funeral services costs. As of Wednesday afternoon, $16,328 was raised. In the appeal for money, his brother wrote “He was loved by many and we hold him close to our hearts. ... He will be missed, loved and remembered forever.”
“To the average person, Will was thought to be shy,” Murello said. “If you didn’t know him, he was not outgoing. But if you did know him, he was very outgoing and really close to his circle of friends on the team. If he trusted you, he would do anything for you.”
His brother also said that Will Oates was a hard worker, holding down three jobs as well as going to school for welding.
“He was outgoing, funny, caring person,” Ugalee Oates Jr. wrote in a Facebook message to the Times Union. “He was a big kid with a big heart and he had a huge lasting impact on people’s lives. ... He was the type of person you met once and say ‘what a great guy.’”
Murello said it’s too bad that the pandemic canceled the football season this year. If the ball was in play, the school would have likely put together something on the field for Oates because not only did his teammates love him, so did the coaches.
“He was a great kid to work with, so coachable,” said Murello, who is an art teacher at the middle school. “He tried really hard. He played for those guys. He never wanted to be in the spotlight. He wanted guys around him to be successful.”
Oates’ paid obituary notes he lost his best friend, Michael Mattice, in 2015 after Mattice — who was also in the Army National Guard — died in a motorcycle crash.
Oates is survived by his parents, four siblings, a girlfriend and many other relatives.