McComb High School quarterback Junior Jamarcus Pittman was counting on a solid season, and for good reason: He had been playing football since age 6 with one of the wide receivers he would rely on. It was the receiver’s first year with McComb, but the two had a strong connection.
“We stayed after practice during the summer, during school,” Pittman said of his and Dominic McCoy’s days as players on the Pike County Iron Horse team. “We’d go to the field, work out together, get the chemistry down pat.”
Pittman said McCoy’s biggest attribute was his speed.
“You’d throw the ball up and he’s going to go get it,” he said.
Pittman was at home when he received a call informing him that McCoy had been fatally shot just after midnight last Friday.
McCoy was driving a car around 12:30 a.m. when, according to police, two gunmen opened fire on him at the corner of Burke and White streets.
“When I heard the news, I jumped down to the floor,” Pittman said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
A visitation for McCoy will be held 1 p.m. today in the McComb High School gymnasium, where he used to play basketball with the Tigers. Funeral services follow at 2.
McComb head football coach Alden Foster said McCoy’s death has affected many people, including McCoy’s friends and teammates, as well as the families of the alleged gunmen.
“The unfortunate part of it is McComb is a small town,” Foster said. “Not only did Dominic get killed, these kids are from the McComb schools that are being accused. Not only do you affect one side, it affects the side of the accused, so it affects the whole town of McComb.”
Jessie Gray and Wayne Nobles III, also McComb High School students, are charged with murder in McCoy’s death. They remained jailed, each on $750,000 bond.
McCoy, who Foster also planned to play at cornerback, was preparing for his first season playing high school football, but his teammates had known him for years.
Senior slot receiver Jertaveon Magee was a first-year team member like McCoy. They became friends as little kids.
“He was talented. He was supposed to play both sides. He’s the reason I’m out here today, to play football,” he said.
Senior running back and linebacker Delvareo Ducks-worth has memories of McCoy going back to Otken Elementary School.
“I would say about third grade I met him,” he said. “We were in the park and we were playing.”
Ducksworth said he and McCoy both had a good relationship with their PE teacher at Otken.
“He was cheery, cool, calm and collected,” Ducksworth said of McCoy.
Ducksworth was also at home when he received a call about McCoy’s death. He then called Foster to break the news.
“I texted all my other coaches and it was rough,” Foster said. “When you get out here and you’ve got your kids and you’ve been grinding and working hard, getting it in, trying to make up for lost time, you spend a lot of time with him.”
Foster, who is set to begin his first season with the Tigers, said McCoy made a positive impression immediately.
“He was the true epitome of a young man that’s coming with a grind, with a goal on his mind that he was trying to reach,” Foster said. “He knew he had one year. He hadn’t played since junior high.
“He came working his behind off trying to reach that goal of going to school for free, and he was well on his way.”
Foster said he was trying to get film of McCoy for colleges, and Southern Miss, Alcorn State and several junior colleges had already expressed interest in him.
Foster said the Tigers recently attended a camp at the University of Alabama, and that was an opportunity for him to get to know McCoy better. He took notice of McCoy’s work ethic and the fact that he pushed through and continued to play through cramps at a camp at LSU.
“When something like this happens, it’s like losing a family member,” he said.
Foster stressed the importance of choosing friends carefully and avoiding bad situations.
“We don’t know the whole story of what happened,” he said. “He was a victim, but the thing that we’re trying to reiterate to the kids now is if you’ve got any beef, it’s not worth your life. We don’t know what happened, but at the same time walk away. Be the bigger person and walk away. Live to see another day.”
Looking ahead, McComb receivers coach Marquis McFarland said many young athletes will have to step up following McCoy’s death.
“I saw him play in junior high and I begged him from ninth grade all the way up to the point in the spring when he came out to play,” McFarland said. “I was just so excited to finally have him on the field and I knew his potential.
“It just broke my heart to get that phone call hearing what happened to him.”
