Slogan that drove Newfield High's Robert Bush on display at his wake

The three-word slogan that drove Robert Bush every day shouted out from the matching T-shirts worn by his large and extended family at a Wednesday afternoon wake and evening funeral for the Newfield High football player.

“PROVE THEM WRONG" read the words, written in black letters over a red football helmet, a fitting tribute to Bush, a 5-5 lineman at a stout 197 pounds.

The 17-year-old incoming senior, who lost consciousness July 3 during preseason conditioning drills before being declared dead Friday, reminded those who knew him of Rudy, the title character of the film about an undersized walk-on player at Notre Dame.

Wednesday afternoon at Giove Funeral Home in Selden, many in attendance attached a red  ribbon to their T-shirts and some carried heart-shaped stones — symbols of thanks and tribute after Bush's family donated the teenager's organs. 

A few hours later, a line of mourners — nearly 300 strong — snaked around the funeral home on Middle Country Road. Among them, Bush's teammates. Inside, he lay in a coffin in his red team jersey, No. 51.

Newfield High head football coach Nick Adler arrived Wednesday night carrying Bush's black helmet adorned with an "N" on one side and "51" on the other. Adler presented the helmet to Bush's father.

“I will never understand why it was his time to go," the coach told his players and others inside the funeral home Wednesday evening. "But part of me is glad he spent his last moments with his teammates in a place he loved so much.”

Deacon James DiGiovanna from the Church of the Resurrection in Farmingville, gave a blessing and urged those in attendance Wednesday evening to leave the service with a newfound appreciation for the fragility of life.

A life lesson

“To lose someone so suddenly and so young, the pain is every parent’s worst nightmare,” DiGiovanna said. “It’s a life lesson, the sooner you learn it, the better off you are. Things happen and sometimes in life we just don’t get the answers. … We can’t afford to lose people like Robert in the world we live in.”

Robert's older brothers, Steve and Chris Bush, said the slogan that drove him was not just a one-off used as motivation for the fall football season. It meant much more to him — growth, maturity and a budding sense of self-reliance, a member of his large family, but also a contributor.

“Robert, in the last couple of years made a pretty major change as far as dedicating himself, to not just his team and his friends, but also his family,” said Steve Bush, 50, of Georgia at the afternoon wake. “That whole ‘prove them wrong,’ wasn't just as far as making the team and how far he could take that. He wanted to be a sibling, he wanted to be a brother, he didn't want to be one of the kids that we had to all parent in a sense. He's just come such a long way.”

Or as Robert Bush's cousin Jessica Noren, 30, put it: "If you would have asked him, he would have thought that he had a lot to prove."

Inside the funeral home, the walls were lined with collages — a timeline of Robert Bush's life in photographs and videos. Near Bush's open casket, floral wreaths with his jersey number, 51, and shaped like a football. At least one mourner went as far as to have the hair on the back of her head trimmed into the shape of his jersey number.

At the time he collapsed, Bush had been taking part in conditioning drills at Newfield. He'd been outside for roughly four minutes during the school's intramural summer sports program when he lost consciousness, Middle Country Central School District officials said.

A football coach and team player each began CPR, according to Suffolk County Police. Another coach attempted to revive Bush with a defibrillator before emergency medical teams arrived and transported him to Stony Brook University Hospital, according to a school district spokesman.

Bush remained on life support at Stony Brook until doctors found no brain activity Friday and declared him dead. The initial cause of death was ruled as sudden cardiac arrest, family said, adding that he was in good health and had no known prior heart condition.

Unanswered questions

"We just don't know, like this falling down on the field and if there were problems," said Chris Bush, 38, of Port Jefferson Station, referring to his younger brother's death.

"It's s got to get checked out," Bush said. "And somebody's got to look at this stuff so this doesn't happen again.” 

Bush said his aim now is to establish a scholarship in Robert’s name.

The family will take part in a police-led procession at 11 a.m. Thursday from the Selden funeral home to Newfield High School. There, they will pick up Robert Bush's teammates for a private burial at Pinelawn Cemetery.

Friends and family are also planning a candlelight vigil Friday at 9 p.m. starting at Independence Plaza in Selden.

The Middle Country Central School District is planning to retire his jersey number and present his family with an honorary diploma at next year’s graduation ceremony.

Noren, who lived with Bush in Selden, wore his cherished blue Air Jordans. Even though they were about two sizes too big, Noren said she laced them up to remember him.

“He was one of those kids that was obsessed with shoes and he only wore these in particular to special events. They were actually my favorite shoes he brought home,” she said. “They're pretty much flippers on me.”

She said even with the large, blended family that has fostered more than 300 children, her younger brother stood out. 

He wanted to make the family proud, Noren said, and they in turn were proud of him as he set goals and met them.

“He achieved a lot of those goals and the majority of it, he did on his own," Noren said. "He didn't really ask for help or anything. He just set his mind to it. He just did it. And we couldn't be more proud of him.”

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.