For the second year, Saghalie Middle School honored two students with the Wesley Gennings Inspirational Athlete Award.

School security officer and coach Don Tuggle said at Tuesday’s ceremony, Tyler Ma’alona and Tyler Satterwhite, the award recipients, “exemplified what Wesley was about – hard work, great students, respected by their teammates.”

Wesley Gennings attended Saghalie Middle School, playing football, basketball and baseball under Tuggle’s leadership for three years, before moving on to Decatur High School in 2014. In February 2016, Gennings was murdered at age 16. He was a sophomore.

“He was gunned down, and when I heard about it from my assistant coach, it was like something hit me in the gut,” Tuggle said. “I’ve talked about it numerous times with many of my players that I’ve coached in the past two years, but this young man – and I’ve coached for over 20 years, and I’ve known a lot of athletes and they’re all great kids … but this young man held a very special place in my heart, and I mean that.”

Tuggle said Gennings was an inspiration to his classmates as well, making him a true “student athlete.”

Leilani Gennings, Wesley Gennings’ mother, said she’s happy to have been a part of the award because it keeps the memory of her son alive.

”I know Wesley would be very, very proud of these kids,” she said.

To achieve the award, students need to be considered a leader on and off the field.

“It’s not just sports, but your academics have to be there, too, and they’d like to see children also being able to help other children as well,” Leilani Gennings said. “That’s the kind of person Wesley was.”

The two students who received the award will have their names added to a plaque, along with certificates they received on Tuesday.

Leilani Gennings holds up a photo of her son Wesley Gennings when he played football for Saghalie Middle School. RAECHEL DAWSON, the Mirror