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New England Patriots provide transportation for UVa players to their teammates' funerals

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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  • CHARLOTTESVILLE – Virginia’s football players, coaches and support staff attended the funeral for teammate D’Sean Perry on Saturday in Miami, then flew back to attend the service for Devin Chandler in Virginia Beach on Sunday.

And the New England Patriots helped make their travel possible.
Friday, the Patriots’ private team plane was spotted at the airport in Charlottesville, and Monday, New England spokesman Stacey James confirmed that owner Robert Kraft had paid for the Virginia team’s flights to and from South Florida.

Perry, a linebacker, Chandler, a wide receiver, and Lavel Davis Jr., also a wide receiver, were shot to death on campus on Sunday, Nov. 13 aboard a charter bus after returning from a class field trip to Washington D.C.

The team plans to attend Davis’s funeral on Wednesday in North Charleston, S.C., as well. Travel plans for that service are unclear.



A fourth player, running back Mike Hollins, suffered serious injuries in the shooting but has since been released from the hospital.

One other student, Marlee Morgan, was shot and suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the incident. Police have arrested and charged Christopher Jones, a former football walk-on at UVa, in connection with the killings.
Virginia canceled its final two games of the season following the shootings, the team’s Dec. 19 home game against Coastal Carolina and its finale in Blacksburg at rival Virginia Tech.

The Cavaliers were 3-7 in their first season under coach Tony Elliott.
The NFL also made a $100,000 commitment to the UVa Strong Fund, a university initiative to honor the victims and support their families, as well as the survivors, that was started by the University of Virginia Alumni Association in the wake of the shootings.

 
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