Donny's hands trembled slightly when the pastor gestured to him to approach the elevated platform. It wasn't until he was standing behind Phil's cherrywood casket that he saw the chapel had been filled to overflowing with people paying their last respects.
He cleared his throat and spoke.
"When I got the call that we'd lost Phil, I was completely shocked, as I can imagine you all were," he began, and the crowd seemed to nod their agreement in unison.
"Phil and I met when I was sixteen years old," he revealed. "It was on the ski slopes in Colorado. We talked for a while, and I could tell right away that he was someone who truly cared about the athletes he worked with. To Phil Tucker, we were never commodities, but flesh and blood people, and everything he did to help us along in our care
