Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 30, 1993 TAG: 9303300077
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The teeth-clenching tenacity was hard to hide in Jim Gwazdauskas.
That was readily apparent in one of the soccer games he played for Blacksburg High School last season. Gwazdauskas, then a senior starting for the first time as a stopper, was one sick puppy. Sick beyond belief with the flu or some similar digestive devastation.
Gwazdauskas played, though, ignoring as best he could his rebelling belly. He made it as far as halftime before the more disagreeable symptoms of the affliction could be fought off no longer.
Indians coach Shelley Blumenthal was sympathetic.
"You're too sick to play the second half," Blumenthal said.
The coach wasn't fully prepared for the reaction.
"He starts yelling at me," Blumenthal said. "He says, `I'm going back in. You can't stop me!' " Nor did Blumenthal try.
Sometimes the players called Gwazdauskas "Gwaz." Other times they called him "Iron Man." With ample justification.
"The hardest-working kid I ever coached," Blumenthal said.
It was those difficult-to-duplicate qualities that Blumenthal and others so desperately hoped would pull Gwazdauskas through after he was struck by a `Gwaz' car in Daytona Beach, Fla., three weeks ago and lapsed into a coma.
"He was such a fighter," Blumenthal said.
Gwazdauskas died as a result of his injuries Sunday, 14 days shy of his 19th birthday.
Gwazdauskas was a freshman at the University of Florida. In the early hours of March 8, he was with friends in Daytona Beach when, while crossing North Atlantic Avenue - the four-lane road that parallels the beach - he apparently didn't see a southbound 1993 Nissan driven by 29-year-old Giuseppe Marziliano, a Canadian citizen. Marziliano, who was traveling in the left southbound lane, struck Gwazdauskas with the left front of the car and hurled him into the median strip, Daytona Beach police said.
Gwazdauskas was taken to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach where he stayed until his death Sunday, police said.
An investigation is continuing and charges against the driver are pending, police said. Investigators found that Gwazdauskas had been drinking. Results of a blood-alcohol test have not been released. There was no evidence the driver was drinking, police said.
"Everybody who knew Gwaz is extremely upset," said Todd Lyons, a Blacksburg senior and the captain of this year's soccer team. "I don't see how you could know the guy and not be upset."
Gwazdauskas was chosen to the All-Timesland and Group AA all-state teams on the way to helping lead the Indians to the state runner-up finish to Park View-Sterling last year. Despite being used exclusively as a defensive player, Gwazdauskas was aggressive enough to have scored 11 goals.
After the season, he was voted the most improved player on the team by his teammates.
"It wasn't even close," Blumenthal said. "He was a quality human being and a natural leader."
Gwazdauskas also was known as a good student and a lover of the outdoors and the bright sunshine, one of the reasons he landed in Florida for college. Florida does not offer soccer as a varsity sport, so no doubt he contented himself with intramurals and pickup basketball, a particular favorite of his.
Funeral arrangements, which are being handled by McCoy Funeral Home in Blacksburg, are incomplete. Gwazdauskas is survived by his father, Frank; his mother, Judy; a sister, Jennifer; and brothers John and Peter.
"I'm dedicating my soccer season to Gwaz," Lyons said. "The team is going to meet soon and discuss goals for the season, and I'm going to suggest then we dedicate the season to him as a team and promise that every game we go out and give it 110 percent, just like he did."
by CNB