High school football star, 17, killed in horror semi-truck crash while driving with four siblings on Georgia highway
- John Holsonback was in a car with four of his five siblings when it was hit
- He attended Fannin Country High with his siblings and the school held an emotional candlelight vigil for their young football star
- Brother Benjamin and sister Sarah were hospitalized after the accident but recovered
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A Georgia school community struggles to recover after one of its football stars was killed in a car crash that hospitalized his brother and sister.
Hundreds attended a candlelight vigil at Fannin Country High School after John Holsonback, 17, was fatally wounded while traveling with four of his five siblings.
The family, who run a flooring business in Blue Ridge, are believed to have been on vacation when their car was hit by a truck outside their hometown of Epworth.
Teammates and coaching staff from the Fannin County Rebels Football Team served as John’s pallbearers, and the school paid tribute to the family with a Facebook post that read: ‘Yesterday. Today. Weekday. We are Fannin.’
John Holsonback, 17, was a star on the Blue Ridge high school football team and treasurer of Maple Grove Baptist Church
John with his siblings Hannah, Elisabeth, Sarah, Luke and Benjamin. Four of the five were in the car at the time of the fatal crash with the semi truck on April 1
Brothers John and Luke in an award photo posted by their high school
“We came together as a school and as a community,” wrote teacher Joe Breeden.
‘People shared memories and stories of a fine young man.
‘This family has suffered a terrible loss. Unspeakable. Heartbreaking.
‘They have been instilling faith and values in their children for as long as anyone who spoke at tonight’s gathering can remember.’
John’s sister Sarah and brother Benjamin were transferred to the hospital in Augusta, where they spent three days before being released after the April 1 crash.
Sarah and brother Luke both attend the dead boy’s school, where their mother Melissa is on staff.
More than $56,000 has been raised for the family of a gofundme appeal created April 2 by family friend Jessica Grostic.
“Tragedy struck the Holsonback family when five of six children were in a devastating truck accident while out of town,” she wrote.
‘Unfortunately, one of the children, a junior at FCHS, did not survive. Two other children are currently in stable condition and receiving treatment at an Augusta hospital.
‘Your help is urgently needed to support the family with funeral expenses for their son, John, as well as medical and travel expenses.’
Two days later, she reported that Benjamin and Sarah were in a stable condition and that parents Melissa and Mark wanted to ‘thank everyone for the prayers and support from our amazing community’.
John Harrison, who runs a rival local flooring business, paid tribute to the ‘wonderful family’ who had suffered in the tragedy.
The young athlete was described as a ‘fine young man’ by one of his teachers
“If anyone deserves help, it’s this family, and this family needs our help at this time,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Our business, the flooring industry, is a close-knit group of shop owners, competing sellers, competing manufacturers and competing distributors.
“But regardless of our position in the industry, we are actually one big family.”
John’s siblings were released from the hospital on April 6, and Benjamin recovered sufficiently to serve as a pallbearer at his brother’s funeral on April 11.