NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. — Classmates bid farewell to Les “Bubba” Clem on the same ground where they cheered him only days before: the West Jessamine High School football field.

        The Rev. Scott Hatfield, a youth minister at Southland Christian Church, urged the crowd of about 2,000 gathered Tuesday to “stand and celebrate the life of Les Clem.”

        The throng rose from seats in the stands and chairs on the field, and applauded. The casket for the 15-year-old quarterback was put at the foot of a goal post.

        At the conclusion of the nearly 90-minute service, members of the Colts football team stood in a circle around the casket to hold hands and recite the Lord's Prayer with Les' mother, Janet Clem.

        Les died Saturday after falling off a flatbed trailer that had been in the parade of the Jessamine Jamboree, Nicholasville's fall festival.

        The crowd was most visibly moved when Janet Clem closed the service with loving memories of her son.

        Ms. Clem said she would think of the outdoor service “not as Bubba's funeral, but as Bubba's pep rally.”

        At the close of the service, after Ms. Clem and the football team had prayed together, she held a single white dove in her outstretched hand and coaxed it to fly.

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