Nov. 20, 2008

by Jac Coyne, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

Tom Borrelli passed away this morning.

The longest-tenured member of the Lacrosse Magazine staff, Tom was severely injured in a fall covering a high school football game, rendering him paralyzed from the neck down and in need of a respirator. Due to complications from the injury, Tom died at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, according to The Buffalo News.

It is obviously a devastating day for his family, and we here at US Lacrosse mourn for their loss, and the loss of Tom.

In the wake of losing such a luminary in the lacrosse journalism world, there are many emotions; ones that often occur when we lose someone so unexpectedly.

For me, the overarching sentiment is how incredibly fragile life is, and the realization of my tendency to take family, friends and colleagues for granted.

I took Tom Borrelli for granted.

I took for granted Tom's weekly National Lacrosse League notebook and accompanying feature stories that came in every winter Wednesday like clockwork, and now I wonder how was able to be so efficient.

I took for granted that we had one of the best lacrosse writer's on staff, and now I wonder why I never tapped his vast knowledge further when I had a master so accessible.

I took for granted how beloved Tom was to the lacrosse world, especially the NLL players, coaches and executives, and I wonder how all of his friends are coping through all of this.

And I took for granted that on any given day, a friend and colleague can attend a high school football game and be gone 12 days later.

In an email to the 34 contributors to the publication announcing Tom's passing entitled, "We've lost a teammate," Lacrosse Magazine editor Paul Krome obviously felt the same way.

"Please know that your contributions to our publication, this organization and its members are valued," wrote Krome, "even if gets too crazy around here sometimes to say so, or even `Hello, how are you doing?'"

Maybe that's something we can do to honor Tom: don't take someone for granted, if only for one day.

Whether it's father, a college friend, a child, or a colleague, take a minute to appreciate that they are still around, doing those things that you normally gloss over in your daily routine.

I, along with many of us, weren't able to do that with Tom, and now we don't have a second chance.

Don't miss yours.