TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa police say an Oral Roberts University (ORU) student was killed after a suspected drunk driver crashed into his car while he was stopped at light at East 71st Street and South Yale Avenue in south Tulsa Wednesday night.
Eugene Quaynor, 23, was a beloved student athlete at ORU. He was a captain on the soccer team and an MBA student.
The news of his tragic death is unimaginable for the ORU community.
“The first thing I think of when I think of Eugene is he was just always smiling,” said ORU’s athletic director, Tim Johnson. “He touched so many people on campus. He was so full of life.”
Johnson said Quaynor was one of ORU’s best soccer players and he was an integral part of the team’s success.
Quaynor didn’t play with his team on Wednesday night.
The soccer team traveled to Missouri to play Lindenwood University and won 3 to 1, only to come home at 4:30 a.m. Thursday to the devastating news.
Quaynor was from Ghana. He transferred to ORU as a sophomore and graduated with a degree in sports medicine. He stayed on the soccer team to make up for the year he lost during COVID-19.
On Thursday, the ORU community was mourning and remembering Quaynor for his big smile and his big heart.
“He is a young man that is the epitome of what our mission is as an Athletic Department,” Johnson said. “[He was] somebody who comes in, is just beaming with life, is involved on campus, is living life the right way, is a great example of what it means to love the Lord, and to be a great teammate and to make an impact in the community.”
But Quaynor also carried a lot of other responsibilities both on and off the field. He worked for several years as a member of the security team on campus to support his family in Ghana. Johnson said the security staff on campus won an award for the most safe campus in Oklahoma.
The soccer team’s return home from Wednesday night’s win, to losing Quaynor, has left the team traumatized.
“This is obviously something that is incredibly hard to deal with,” Johnson said. “This was a team captain, someone who, if you knew him, you kind of felt like he was one of your lifelong friends. Obviously, he was there for a lot of them so they’re just processing it and to lose somebody of that caliber, it’s going to take a while. But you know, we’re going to help them move on and that’s obviously something Eugene would want them to do as well.”
Johnson said the ORU soccer team has postponed its game scheduled for Saturday to remember Quaynor.
He said both the Summit League and the St. Thomas soccer team were accommodating and extended their condolences to the ORU team.
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