FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The Carroll football stadium filled with orange Friday night, in honor of teammate Owen Scheele.

Scheele passed away on June 7th due to chronic myeloid leukemia. He would have been a senior this year, and possibly Carroll’s starting quarterback this season. ‘Orange for Owen’ is an initiative brought on by the Carroll community as a way for Chargers and fans to pay tribute to Scheele. Orange T-shirts, bracelets, and other items were sold to benefit the Owen Scheele foundation, and bring awareness to Leukemia.

Angie Hoekema, a parent of a Carroll student sold bracelets during the football games. She said this was a way for her and her family to show their support.

“Every family has been touched by cancer in some way, and to lose someone so young so healthy and so happy it just touched my heart,” Hoekema said, “We really just wanted to do something to support, our football team the Scheele family and the whole Carroll community.”

Anthony Cavacini, a friend of Owen’s says he knew Owen for many years, and called him one of the, “nicest guys he’d ever met.” He also said that he believes Owen would have appreciated the turnout.

“He’d be really happy that we all came out and support because this is a game that he really loved you know, he played this his whole life and I think it’s really nice that people show there support,” Cavacini said, “living on his legacy especially through this game, because he couldn’t live it on so we’re living it on for him.”

Cavacini says it’s important to show gratitude to those you care about because you never know what could happen.

“Your mom, your dad, everybody just say you love them because you know it can happen to anybody, it came out of no where, nobody was expecting this to happen, it can happen to anybody. So yeah. Just, say you love them.”