Osceola mourns death of former player

The shooting death of a former Osceola student-athlete prompted a moment of reflection on the eve of the high school football regular season this week.

Richard “Sam” Howard, a sergeant with the Kissimmee Police Department and a 2000 Osceola graduate, was shot alongside officer Matthew Baxter while on the job Friday night. Howard died on Saturday.

Howard was a three-sport athlete at Osceola who played football and wrestled for current head coach Doug Nichols. He was also a member of the school’s swim team.

“We had a pretty good talk after practice [Monday] about how football is a small part of your life,” Nichols said. “About not putting yourself in bad situations and cherishing every moment you have and every breath you have, because you don’t know when it all can be taken away.”

Osceola opens the regular season on the road Thursday at 2016 Class 6A state runner-up Lakeland Lake Gibson at 7:30 p.m.

Nichols, who was an assistant football coach at Osceola for 16 years prior to becoming head coach at Liberty in 2007, was alerted about Howard by a former student after the Kowboys won their preseason game vs. Dr. Phillips last Friday night.

Nichols returned to Osceola as head coach in 2010 and remembers Howard as always having a smile on his face while working security during basketball games at the school.

He said the school plans to honor the fallen officers at its first home game of the season next week against St. Cloud.

A local sign shop owner and former teammate of Howard’s hung a banner at the stadium earlier this week and left behind memorial helmet stickers for players.

“Kissimmee has grown a lot, but it’s still a pretty tight-knit community and stuff like this kind of rattles you,” Nichols said. “It really hits close to home.”