Spillers honored by Chartiers-Houston
Billy Spillers’ mother, Edith Spillers, holds his helmet during a dedication ceremony at Chartiers-Houston High School Stadium Friday night. Spillers, a standout football player and 2001 graduate, died in March in a mudslide in Oso, Wash. From left are Josh Martin, Brian Wiese, Billy’s stepfather, Edith Spillers and Bob Molisee. Martin and Molisee are former classmates of Billy Spillers.
Billy Spillers’ football helmet was given to Chartiers-Houston School District by his mother, Edith Spillers, during a dedication ceremony Friday night before the football team kicked off the 2014 season.
During his standout playing career at Chartiers-Houston High School, U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Billy Spillers would pull on his maroon and gold football helmet Friday nights and spend the next three hours harassing running backs and quarterbacks.
His helmet, dented and scratched in spots, is covered with stickers signifying his achievements on the football field, where he earned all-conference honors as a defensive end.
On Friday night before the Buccaneers kicked off their 2014 season, Spillers’ mother, Edith, wearing a Chartiers-Houston football T-shirt with Spillers’ name on the back and a button with a picture of him in his football uniform, stood at the 50-yard line and donated his helmet to the school district, where it will be displayed in the school’s trophy case in his memory.
Spillers, 30, who graduated from Chartiers-Houston in 2001, died in a massive landslide on March 22, in Oso, Wash., about 60 miles north of Seattle, that killed 43 people.
Spillers’ two children, Kaylee, 5, and Brooke, 2, and his step-son, Jovon Mangual, 13, also died.
Rescuers pulled his son, Jacob, 4, from the mudslide shortly after it struck.
Spillers’ wife, Jonielle, was not home at the time.
Spillers’ teammates Bob Molisee and Josh Martin joined Edith Spillers on the field during the ceremony, and many of his former teammates and classmates lined up along the sidelines. Several hugged Edith Spillers as she walked off the field, crying.
“This meant everything to me because my son loved football, he loved his teammates and this school,” said Spillers. “He loved football so much.”
Spillers enlisted in the Navy in 2002, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Strayer University in 2008. He served aboard two ships, the USS Stout and the USS Momsen.
Spillers was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal four times, and received various other unit awards. In November 2013, he transferred to the Naval Station in Everett, Wash., where he was a career counselor. The job provided him the opportunity to spend more time with his wife and their children.
“It’s just a tragedy that this happened to him. He was such a great person,” said Molisee. “He was a great football player, a great athlete. He was probably the most athletic player in our school.”
At the stadium, banners in honor of Spillers were hung on fences at the stadium.
“It’s so wonderful that 13 years after they graduated, so many people came back for this,” said Brian Wiese, Spillers’ step-father.
Chartiers-Houston players will honor Spillers by wearing his number 73 on their uniforms this season.