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Coach describes late player as a leader
ysu baseball
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University graduate Kris Moules, who died after falling down an elevator shaft, was an internal team leader and a go-to guy, according to his former baseball coach.
“Kris was very dedicated to trying to be as good a player as he could be,” said Steve Gillispie, who was the head coach of YSU’s Penguin baseball team when Moules was a player. “He was a team-oriented guy. He was a guy that would hold the team accountable.”
Wire reports say Moules, 25, was working as a corrections officer at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Monday night when he and an inmate got into an altercation on the jail’s fifth floor.
The two men smashed into an elevator, the elevator door gave way and they fell down the elevator shaft to their deaths, the Associated Press reported.
Moules was in his first year on the job.
He graduated from YSU in December 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
Moules came to YSU in 2012 from Lackawanna Community College in Scranton, Pa. He was among the first players the former coach recruited.
“He was one of the internal leaders,” Gillispie said. “He was a little bit older coming in and new from the outside, but he definitely was one of those internal leaders.”
Moules battled many injuries during his time at YSU that made him miss a lot of games, but Gillispie said he was a good player.
“He was very well respected, very likable kid,” the coach said. “He was someone the team kind of looked to.”
Gillispie said Moules also served as a host player when prospective students visited campus.
To be selected for that duty, players have to be personable, well-spoken with a thorough understanding of YSU, Gillispie said.
“He was a fun-loving guy who would do whatever was asked of him,” he said.
Moules also was a good student and serious when he needed to be, his former coach said.
While news of his former player’s death was sad news, Gillispie wasn’t surprised that Moules died doing what he was trained to do.
“He gave his life in service in the line of duty,” he said.