Speros: Real-life superheroes gave their lives to save students in Florida rampage

Go out and buy your kid an Aaron Feis mask. Or a Chris Hixon hat. Or a Scott Beigel shirt.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School stockpiled real-life superheroes disguised as coaches.

They did not wear capes. They did not use special effects. And you won’t see them in any Marvel movie.

Assistant football coach Feis, athletic director and wrestling coach Hixon and cross country coach Beigel instinctively and without hesitation gave their lives so that the children they loved and mentored and taught and coached could live.

Feis shielded at least one student from the mass murderer/terrorist who turned Parkland, Fla., into another killing field Wednesday.

A security officer at Stoneman Douglas, Feis was an offensive lineman and center for the school in the 1990s before returning to coach in 2002. He coached JV football for eight years and was most-recently the team’s offensive line coach and college recruiting coordinator.

Yet, to hear those children he coached — and they are still children — Feis was the sort of coach that every school needs. He worked with students to get their grades up to par to play football. He was a counselor. He was a friend. “Everyone loved him,” a player said.

“He was a big ol’ teddy bear,” head football coach Willis May told the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale. “Loyalty — I trusted him. He had my back. He worked hard. Just a good man. Loved his family.” Feis had a wife and young daughter.

Source :- bostonherald