Dolphins donate $17,500 to coach’s family
CORAL SPRINGS – The feeling of helplessness has been pervasive in South Florida since Wednesday’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 dead.
Darren Rizzi, Miami Dolphins assistant coach/ special teams, took action because he was acquainted with Douglas assistant football coach Aaron Feis, one of the victims. Feis has been credited with saving lives of students by pushing some to safety and shielding a ninth-grade girl before he was struck by bullets.
Friday, Rizzi presented a check for $17,500 to the Feis family after organizing a collection among Dolphins coaches and other employees.
“As a coaching staff we got together on the morning after the tragedy and started talking about that we really wanted to do something for Coach Feis and his family. Next thing you know we had close to 50 people that donated money,” Rizzi said.
“I was amazed because everybody from Coach [Adam] Gase right on through our entire coaching staff, our equipment people, security, video people — everybody pitched in and gave some money. Everybody was affected by it.”
While this effort came from personal donations of staff members, the Dolphins as an organization contributed $100,000 to the Douglas victims’ fund set up by the Broward County Education Fund on gofundme.com, which by Friday afternoon had raised more than $1 million.
Rizzi was especially touched because he had been a frequent visitor at Stoneman Douglas while recruiting players when he was a college coach at Rutgers. He became well acquainted with all the Douglas football coaches through another assistant, Elliot Bonner, who played football at Rutgers.
“Aaron was just a tremendous person. I got to know him a little bit through Coach Bonner. But just from what he did and his heroics, I don’t know if you can really put it into words,” Rizzi said. “There’s a lot of speculation about what happened, but I do know Coach Feis was a hero.
“I think a lot of people look at NFL coaches and players and they watch on Sunday and think those are heroes. People like Coach Feis are the real heroes — people that are in high schools working with young people every day and formulating young people into doing the right things.”
Ray Feis, Aaron’s younger brother, accepted the check on behalf of Feis’ widow, Melissa, and the family at an informal ceremony outside Church by the Glades in Coral Springs.
“I am very appreciative of the community as well as the Dolphins organization, and just all the support for not only my family but all of the other families that were affected by this,” said Ray Feis, adding that his family will have more to say at a later time. “It’s just too soon. There is a grieving time that needs to take place.”
Bonner, who has been at Stoneman Douglas for 20 years and coached Aaron Feis as a student athlete, said: “He’s just a great person. I liked him because he was always straightforward. He wasn’t a bushbeater. He went through the bushes.”
Consequently, Bonner wasn’t surprised that Feis was aiding students when the bullets were flying.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Bonner said. “He means what he says, and he doesn’t back down.”
Rizzi made it clear to Ray Feis that the commitment to assist their needs didn’t end with the check presentation.
“I want to make sure that they know that we’re always there for them, because at some point life has to go on for everybody,” Rizzi said.
“The coaching community is very tight and it doesn’t matter if you are high school, college or NFL, coaches are coaches. You know what coaches’ families go through on a daily basis. We just wanted to do something for them as a staff.”