When Aaron Cooksey finished speaking, he got his wish: the room was silent. He told the student athletes at St. Edward’s University, “my ignorance does not deserve applause.”

Cooksey came and spoke to St. Edward’s athletic department on Sept. 16.

He was raised in Ohio by two loving parents and had several colleges recruiting him to play football. He had the world at his feet. That all changed in the summer of 1999, when, driving drunk he killed his best friend.

Cooksey always knew the importance of being a good leader and role model, and also understood that with actions came consequences. With college football aspirations, Cooksey stayed as far away from trouble as he could, and proudly admitted that up to the age of 19, drinking did not interest him in the slightest.

As a freshman, Cooksey attended Mount Union College, Ohio, and had aspirations of becoming a teacher. He loved sports and in high school played football and baseball. Unfortunately for Cooksey, he suffered two major knee injuries, both times tearing his ACL. This is when the drinking and drugs began. 

 “I turned to drinking and drugs as my way out,” said Cooksey. “I soon learned however, if life isn’t going the way you want, look in the mirror and you’ll soon figure it out. I wish I’d listened to this a bit sooner.”

His first drink came the summer of 1999, and continued religiously until that night in July 2001. A few too many drinks, a couple of bad decisions and reckless driving by Cooksey led to the death of his best friend, Andrea, who was riding in the passenger seat.

“The first thing I heard was there are no survivors. They’re both dead,” said Cooksey.

 Cooksey was driving the two of them to a restaurant, but had been drinking before he got behind the wheel. His bad decisions that night did not stop there. Driving 55 mph in a 35 mph zone, he found the distance between him and the car in front of him closing up very quickly. Andrea was talking. He turned to look at her and, in that split second, took his eyes off the road. Cooksey slammed on his breaks and swerved right to avoid hitting the car ahead of him.

His vehicle overturned three times before it crashed into a pole on the side of the road. Fifteen minutes after waking up from the accident, his immediate reaction was to find Andrea. Cooksey recalls looking for what he explained felt like a lifetime. Once he found her, she was not moving and was rushed to hospital. Days later, Andrea was pronounced dead.

Not only did Cooksey have to live with the fact that he had killed his best friend, he now faced a four-year prison sentence. All hopes of becoming a college athlete and teacher had passed.

“The worst part of being in prison wasn’t the food, or the people, or anything like that. It was the visits. Having to look into my parents eyes and say, ‘I’m so so sorry,’” said Cooksey. “For the first time, they weren’t proud of me.”

 “It’s hard to think that could be any one of us. One minute we’re registering for classes, the next, we’re sat in a prison cell,” Kate Orkild, senior soccer player, said.

 After his release from prison and his parent’s wishes, Cooksey went to college and earned a degree in corporate communications at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio. Although his teaching dreams were crushed, Cooksey now invests his time in speaking to young adults about his story. More than anything, Cooksey hopes young people can learn about responsibility and making good decisions.

“I’m not here to change anyone, I’m here to give information,” said Cooksey.

Cooksey knows he messed up and will always have to live with that, but he speaks about the accident and accepts every part of the blame. Cooksey is also now married and has a daughter on the way.

“One of the hardest things I’ll ever have to do is look into that little girl’s face and tell her what I did,” he said. “I know I have to do it, and I will.”