CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Tonight, King High School will honor a student/athlete who drowned off the South Padre Island coast last spring.
Je’Sani Smith was a senior and a talented member of the King High School basketball team.
The school will honor him tonight by retiring his number 12 jersey.
The ceremony will happen at King High School during halftime of the varsity girls' basketball game.
It should happen about 7 p.m. tonight.
Apr. 11, 2019, was a terrible day at the high school.
That's when the news came down that Smith had disappeared while swimming with a big group of friends near Whitecap Beach.
Three days later, his body was found near Bob Hall Pier.
There were memorials on the beach and back here at the school for a talented young man who was well loved.
And now there will be a permanent memorial hanging in the rafters of the King High School gymnasium.
Never again will a King High School basketball player wear his number 12 jersey.
"For Je'Sani,” King High School boys basketball coach Sean Armstrong said. “To remember Je'Sani. His family. They're doing a lot right now through rip tides and education. And we just want to honor Je'Sani and his memory It's important to these guys."
And if you can’t make it out here to King High School tonight, don’t worry.
We're going to put it the halftime ceremony on Facebook Live so you can also take part in the ceremony remembering an exceptional young man.
Check here to follow the proceedings.
