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Category 10: Short-form, Average Joe

Kendall Tapley

If you're lucky, you find a friend in high school whom you can trust with your hopes and fears, never needing to worry about ridicule or secrets being shared.

If you're very lucky, that friend teaches you how to walk down the hall with anybody. You see that it's possible to fit in with different cliques. You learn that a smile and a generous spirit can protect the weak and the geek.

And if you are very, very lucky, that friend makes you laugh until you cry.

Kendall Tapley, who had just turned 15, will forever be that friend in the memories of many of those who knew him at Homewood-Flossmoor High School.

"He knew how to make people laugh. He knew how to bring people together," said his mother, Angie Tapley.

Kendall, an honor student and baseball player for Homewood-Flossmoor, was found dead in bed Saturday morning. An autopsy was inconclusive. Investigators are checking whether Kendall may have had a heart ailment, said his grandmother, Ann Stuart. Homewood police told his family they found no signs of drugs, alcohol, choking or any apparent injury, she said.

"He was just a terrific young man," said David Thieman, a spokesman for Homewood-Flossmoor. "People loved him."

Kendall wasn't like most kids his age, his grandmother said.

"How many 15-year-olds get up and fix breakfast for their mother?" she asked, like he did.

He also looked out for his younger sister Anya, 7, and brother Bryan, 11. When Anya got tired during a trip to Walt Disney World, "Kendall carried her all around on his back," said his grandfather, Terry Tapley.

With Bryan, he often said the words little brothers live for: "You want to play catch?"

Ever since he could swing a bat, Kendall was good at baseball, starting with T-ball and continuing in Little League and travel ball. He played football and baseball as a freshman at Homewood-Flossmoor but planned to focus on baseball and wrestling his sophomore year, according to his mom.

Kendall dreamed of a career in sports, but he knew the odds of making it as a pro were slim, his mother said. So he picked honors classes to help him achieve his goal of becoming a sports physical therapist. And he studied Spanish because he wanted to be able to communicate well with Latino ballplayers, she said.

His leadership showed when he once organized a search for a friend's little sister who failed to come home on time. He and his buddies hopped on their bikes and began alerting every other kid in a quarter-mile radius to be on the lookout, said his friend Dustin Ford, adding that, when the girl showed up after taking the long way home, "We were so happy."

"Kendall was one of the ones that anyone could get along with," said another friend, Nick Ryan. He said that one time when he was sick, Kendall and another friend "went to Walgreens and bought me Ramen noodles to make me feel better. They brought it to my house and made it."

"If we didn't have him," said Ben Testroet, another friend, "we couldn't hang out. He just brought the whole group to life."

"He made everybody laugh, every day," said Ford.

Kendall liked taking walks with his boxer dog, Al, and treasured his Mike Ditka football and his Louisville Slugger baseball bat. He liked playing "Call of Duty" and loved eating his mom's stuffed manicotti. He watched "Lost" with his mom because she liked it. And he loved rap artist Kid Cudi so much that some of his friends called him "Cudi" Tapley.

Visitation is 2-9 p.m. today at Tews Funeral Home in Homewood. Another viewing is from 10-11 a.m. Saturday at Flossmoor Community Church, with services there starting at 11 a.m.

Kendall is also survived by his father, Terrence Tapley Jr.; his grandmother, Marsha McDaniel Tapley; and his grandfather, Fred Dobrinksi.