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Eagle Scout Alex While’s project designed with purpose
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Austintown Fitch senior Alex While, 17, created a commemorative sign for Ed Wilhelm, a cross country runner for Fitch in the late 1970s who died while trying to save a girl from drowning in 1979. The sign, which also shows a map of Austintown Township Park and the current cross country course route, was installed at the finish line inside the park.
By Elise Franco
Austintown
Alex While’s Eagle Scout project meant more to one woman than he ever could have imagined.
While, 17, of Austintown, joined Scouts in first grade and knew right away he eventually would earn his Eagle Scout award. The project, which he began planning last summer, was a large wood-framed sign constructed and erected by While and other members of Troop 115.
One side of the sign is a large map of Austintown Township Park, outlining the cross-country courses for the team While is a part of, he said.
The other side features the story of Ed Wilhelm, an Austintown Fitch cross- country star who died tragically in 1979 at age 16. Wilhelm died while on vacation in Arizona, trying to save the life of a girl who was drowning in a river where they were swimming.
“Ever since I joined the cross-country team in seventh grade, every year our coaches tell the story of Ed Wilhelm,” While said. “When I was deciding what to do for my project, I remembered that story and decided to put up a sign.”
The course, which goes around the park, was renamed “The Ed Wilhelm Cross Country Course,” so While thought the finish line would be an appropriate location for the sign.
“It’s a really tragic story, and I feel bad that something like this goes unknown to most people who aren’t on the team,” he said.
As runners approach the finish line, they’ll see the course map, with Wilhelm’s story at their backs as they pass. While said he designed the sign this way on purpose.
“The reason I had the side with Ed facing that way and not as runners came up on the finish line, is because it will catch them as they circle back to cool down,” he said. “Then they can really stop and read it.”
Cathy Rees, Wilhelm’s mother, said she hopes more people will now know her son’s story and appreciate the good person he was.
“It will keep people aware of what kind of young man Ed was,” she said. “It’s a living memory for me. I can go up there and see it, and it makes me feel so proud of my son.
“And I’m also proud of young Alex.”
While’s father, Jim While, said he was a mentor to his son throughout the project and was proud of the result.
“It’s good to see him get to this point and give back to the course,” he said.
Wilhelm ran on the 1978 cross-country team that made it to the state championship meet and was given the “Guts Award” — later renamed Wilhelm Family Memorial Award for Courage. He gave up running a few months before his death to work and help take care of his siblings after his father died suddenly of a heart attack, according to the sign.
While said the first time his teammates saw the sign was emotional for them all.
“After the first meet, some of the guys came over and looked at it,” he said.
“They got real emotional. ... We’ve all heard the story, but it still seemed kind of distant, and this brought it closer.”
The cross-country team members weren’t the only ones feeling great emotion, however. Rees, of Canfield, said she cried the first time she laid eyes on the sign.
“It’s been 32 years, and when I saw that sign I was so overwhelmed,” she said. “I just filled up with tears of joy. And there will always will be a certain amount of sorrow, but Alex did such a magnificent job on that sign.”