Rossview basketball players, family, remember Cam Ward: 'He was the best. He was the best teammate.'

Landon Hankemeier had to step outside his house Friday night in Clarksville and take a long walk. When he got back home he silently went into his bedroom, sat on his bed and cried. Reading the mountains of text messages that flooded his phone was overwhelming. The subject of those texts was even more unbearable.

"You can't believe it," said Hankemeier, Rossview's 6-foot-4 senior forward, about learning that teammate Cam Ward, the District 13-4A MVP a year ago, died during a pickup game Friday night, exactly two weeks to the day of the Hawks' TSSAA Class 4A boys basketball state tournament semifinal game against Independence. "I couldn't believe it. He was the best. He was the best teammate. He lifted us up so many times."

It was Ward's voice who could be heard in the postgame locker room after Rossview's first-ever trip to the Class 4A state tournament ended in a 65-53 loss to Independence on March 15.

Ward didn't mince words about he and his teams journey after the loss with the team in the midst of severe disappointment, some anger, but mostly sadness for the seniors including Ward. He kept it, as per usual for Ward, positive.

Fifteen days after that state tournament loss, over a hundred people gathered in front of Rossview High School on Saturday night to hold a candlelight vigil for Ward, the 17-year-old senior, who helped turn around a program who, under head coach Johnny Jackson, had always been competitive but could never get over the hump and into a state tournament.

It was a deeply emotional hour that tugged on the hearts Rossview's administrators, coaches, and the student body most of whom could barely keep tears at bay and many of whom decided not to.

"Everything that I did wrong, my son did right," said Jessica Ward to the crowd that gathered Saturday night about her son. "When I wanted to start a war, my son would want peace. When I wanted to hate, my son would show love. That's who my son was. I couldn't change him."

The memories of Cam Ward were on full display at Saturday's vigil. Rossview assistant coach Tariq Silver, who was with Ward and a few Rossview teammates when Ward collapsed, embraced Jessica Ward for several minutes Saturday with his head buried between her shoulder and neck. When he rose, the pain in his face was unmistakable.

Cam's best friend and Rossview point guard, Quamond Linsey, was also participating in the pickup game.

"I just remember Cam going up for a layup," he said. "Cam was explosive off the floor and he just exploded to the basket. I was on the other team and before I could turn back around to run down court with the ball, I heard a loud bang. Cam's head hit the floor."

Linsey said he and Silver immediately ran to Ward. Others called 9-1-1, some called Jackson and all were in shock.

Jackson spoke to the crowd Saturday for a few minutes. Afterward he had to retreat inside the locked doors of Rossview High School. It was too much.

"I was in my dorm room (at Vol State Community College in Gallatin) when I got a phone call from (Linsey) telling me my brother was having a seizure," said Cam's brother Messiah Ward. "His heart stopped."

In an instant, Messiah Ward lost his brother, his best friend, the person who made his family's days brighter.

"He could come downstairs having just woke up and everybody is already downstairs," said Messiah, who played with Cam for three seasons at Rossview and is a freshman at Vol State. "The day didn't start until he came downstairs."

Cam and Messiah arrived at Rossview from Knoxville during Messiah's freshman year with the Hawks. When Cam joined the team as a freshman, along with Hankemeier, Jackson's Hawks started to turn a corner. Rossview hovered just above .500 during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. Last year, Jackson's team finished 28-5, losing to Memphis East in a Class 4A sectional. This season the Hawks upset Cordova in the sectional for its first state tournament berth.

"That's the power Cam had," Hankemeier said. "He pulled us together. Look around. He pulled this school together."

Reach sports writer George Robinson at georgerobinson@theleafchronicle.com and on the X platform (formerly Twitter) @Cville_Sports.