Signee’s foundation to focus on mental health

Friends, family knew right away they would lift up player’s memory.

Shibbon Winelle wants her son’s life to have greater meaning. So do friends who loved him. Their instrument will be the Bryce Gowdy Foundation, created to honor the late Georgia Tech signee who is said to have taken his life Dec. 30, days before he was to enroll at Tech.

The not-for-profit organization has two primary initiatives, one focused on suicide prevention and the other on providing training opportunities for high school football players. It will be led by Gowdy’s friends, most of whom are college-bound freshmen who were in Gowdy’s class at Deerfield Beach (Florida) High.

Gowdy, a star wide receiver, graduated from Deerfield Beach in December and was to enroll early at Tech before he died by suicide, according to authorities. The death jolted his South Florida community as well as the Yellow Jackets team and fan base.

“I just hope that out of this loss, out of this experience that my family is going through, that we’re going to be able to help others,” Winelle told the AJC. “I feel like that’s the only way to make sure that what happened with Bryce isn’t just something that happened in vain. I think our family’s story touches on so many levels that we can create change across a few platforms, not just in the sports world, but in the mental health world, too.”

The foundation’s first event will be today, an online conference that will address suicide prevention. Winelle is scheduled to participate, as are three mental health experts and four close friends of Gowdy’s.

CONTRIBUTED BY GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS Bryce Gowdy, a Class of 2020 recruit from South Florida, signed with Tech on Dec. 18, 2019. He died less than two weeks later.