Remembering Joey

– Story & Photo by WTVQ TV 36 –

Joey Kraemer had only been an EKU Colonel for a few months, but to his teammates he was a brother.

State Police believe early Sunday morning, Kraemer was driving on Tates Creek Road in Madison Co. when he went off the road, hit a tree and went down an embankment. Troopers say he was found dead hours later.

Kraemer transferred to EKU after red-shirting as a freshmen last season at the University of Texas at El Paso. EKU football coach Dean Hood described him as a quieter guy on the team, but someone who cared. “He was a guy that we fell in love with right from the beginning, not only as a player but as a person,” says Hood.

EKU Quarterback Bennie Coney says the games ahead are hard to contemplate. “It’s hard to focus on the game when you just lost a life,” says Coney. “Football’s important, but it’s not important when it comes to somebody’s life.”

With a game against the University of Kentucky on Saturday, his teammates plan to keep going in his memory. UK plans to honor Kraemer during the playing of “My Old Kentucky Home.” Players will also wear armbands in his memory.

The accident remains under investigation by Kentucky State Police.