Student-athlete, great friend; Homewood-Flossmoor sophomore

KENDALL TAPLEY - 1995-2010

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 …