COLUMBIA, S.C. — It was a somber day for Coach Andy Hallett as he set up to teach his class at A.C. Flora High School with one student missing.
17-year-old Bailey Pratt was no longer there after he died in a car accident over the weekend.
“The guidance department was here yesterday when I opened class and took attendance and they spoke to our kids,” Hallett said. “It’s sad, you know? It’s a heartfelt emotion on your heart, and you just feel lost.”
Pratt was not only his student, but also an outfielder and pitcher on the school’s junior varsity baseball team. Hallett, the coach, remembers the good times.
“One of the things he could always make you do is laugh,” Hallett said. “Even when he got in trouble, he made you laugh. He had a great sense of humor; he had a bubbly personality. He’s just a good kid.”
Hallett says Pratt was a junior. A vigil was held in his memory on Monday.
"We all wore our hats out there last night and, you know, I just hugged a couple of them, talked to his parents a couple times yesterday and, you know, it's just a very sad time,” Hallett said.
As they work to heal, Hallett says his thoughts and prayers are with Pratt’s family and the A.C. Flora community.