Sports community mourns the loss of Clint Keown

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — The sports community is mourning the loss of a local sports legend who died in a crash in Illinois on Sunday. Memorial High School Hall of Famer Clint Keown passed away in the wreck.

The Crawford County Sheriff's Office says the car was traveling south on a county road in Robinson Township when it went off the road. They say the car struck the guardrail, went through it over several rocks and landed in an empty creek bed.

The loss of the Evansville native has sent waves throughout the community.

Clint Keown was a Memorial High School Tiger through and through. He deeply loved his community, and people all over social media are remembering him for the person he was on and off the court.

"All of those Hall of Fame are very worthy, but I always just remember as the person he was and he was a great dad and you know he was a great sibling to his to his other siblings and I just hate it just hit me so hard," says former sports director Lance Wilkerson. "What a great person he was you know, and I think that means the most not that if he could hit a three-pointer or not, it was definitely that he was good to his neighbors and he was good to his family and he'd be the first person to give back and it's such a horrible loss."

Wilkerson is a former sports director, reflecting on his time watching Keown play and even adding that he was the best athlete of his era.

Wilkerson adds, "He played for the person next to him and not just for himself and others. He was there one of the best times in division one history when they went to the tournament won the valley in 1999. He was a big part of it even though he was a freshman that year with a couple other great freshmen, and while some players feel the weight of the world if they're a local kid playing at the local university, Clint did not. I never felt that with him. He loved it. He embraced the crowd he didn't have that extra pressure and he was a team first."

Wilkerson says he'll remember Keown as somebody who truly seized the day, showing positivity everywhere he went.

"He made you feel that you were best friends with him even even if you haven't seen him in a few years, so I think that was one of the reasons that he was so liked," says Wilkerson.

Memorial High School plans to hold a moment of silence in honor of Keown at every single athletic event this week.

Funeral arrangements have not been released at this time.