Southeast soccer retires Herndon's jersey

~ The Redhawks fondly remembered and honored the late Meg Herndon

Many people in the crowd wiped their eyes as a video brought former Southeast Missouri State soccer player Meg Herndon back to life on the one-year anniversary of her death Friday night.

The video, shot five days before the accident that eventually led to her death, showed Herndon being interviewed. At the beginning of the video Herndon was asked a few questions such as her name and where she went to high school.

"My name is Meg Herndon," she replied. "I'm from St. Louis, Missouri. I play left defense. And I forgot what the other question was."

Many in attendance laughed at the reply, which showed how Herndon could make others laugh and smile. By watching the video, viewers who didn't know Herndon personally got an understanding of who she was, not as a soccer player but also as a person.

Southeast Missouri State coach Heather Nelson, left, and her players salute former player Meg Herndon before the annual almunae soccer game Friday night at Houck Stadium.

Herndon was honored as part of the 15th annual Southeast Missouri State alumnae soccer game. A ceremony to remember her and retire her jersey -- the first soccer jersey at Southeast to be retired -- was held at Kem Statuary Hall due to inclement weather.

"In the locker room we have a painting of her jersey number and her favorite quote, which was 'Impossible is Nothing,'" senior Stephanie Palmer said when asked about how the team honors Herndon.

Each current Southeast soccer player wore a soccer jersey with the No. 2, Herndon's jersey number, on the back with her favorite quote repeated inside the numbers.

"Retiring her number obviously is a huge honor, and I think that's pretty awesome. She was an amazing player and she totally deserves it," Palmer said.

Herndon started 39 out of 55 career matches that she had played and was a three-time Southeast Scholar Athlete. She was a nursing major and was named to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll three times.

The scooter Herndon was driving near campus was struck by a vehicle on Sept. 9, 2012, and she was hospitalized until her death 11 days later.

The creation of the Meghan Herndon Memorial Scholarship, an endowed scholarship that will be given to a Southeast soccer player each year starting next fall, was also announced.

Cindi Silvey, Herndon's mother, gave an emotional speech during the ceremony that had the crowd and herself in tears. Remembering her daughter and sharing stories of all the people who have helped with the scholarship fund, which has more than $20,000 raised so far, was the highlight of the night.

During one particular moment in the speech, Silvey had to stop for a moment when she talked about Herndon's trademark "little sarcastic sayings."

Silvey called Southeast coach Heather Nelson up to the stand to give her a gift at the conclusion of her speech. It was a small soccer ball that was actually a container that had one of Herndon's shoe laces that her mother had taken from one of her cleats she found in her locker.

"In a positive way, we're trying to live our lives like she would expect us to," Nelson said later. "She was a good fit for our program because her philosophy is really the philosophy of our program, which is to be an extended family. We try and carry her with us and live like she would want us to live our lives."

A banner with Herndon's last name and number on was revealed during the event and will hang at Houck Stadium for all of this year's home events and her jersey will be hung in the soccer team's locker room.

"Whenever we play I think she's always with us," Palmer said. "Even the freshmen who didn't know her think that because of the upper classmen. If you're on this team you know who she is and you feel who she is and you wanna play with her spirit."

At the conclusion of the ceremony, a tribute video was shown that highlighted Herndon's impressive soccer career, many friends and a family that adored her. Many members of the soccer team cried as the video was shown and hugged each other until the end of the ceremony.

"After Meg's accident, we all came together and bonded as a team," junior Taylor Byrd said. "If we had something hard that we needed to talk about we would open up to each other. Going through her loss, now we're stronger and can tell each other anything."

The night continued as the soccer team and alumnae in attendance headed over to Houck Stadium to play in the night's secondary event. At the beginning of the game, only 10 players from each team were on the field as part of a salute to Herndon. After that, two players rushed onto the field so that the game could be played.

The current Redhawks ultimately won this match by beating the alumnae 1-0.

Southeast will head to Murray, Ky., on Sept. 27 to take on the Murray State Racers in its first Ohio Valley Conference game.