Alberta’s lacrosse community grieves tragic loss of Sherwood Park teen killed in crash

Alberta’s lacrosse community is mourning the death of a young athlete from Sherwood Park who was killed in a car crash in Tennessee, where he was just starting his university lacrosse career.

Payton Cook, 19, died in a single-car crash on Friday.

“The first thing I noticed about Payton in the dressing room that all his teammates loved him. He loved lacrosse and he had a big smile. Kind of a big goofy grin that you never knew what was going on behind there,” said Steve Baker, the former coach of the Sherwood Park Titans.

Tim Stewart with the Alberta Lacrosse Association said his son played with Payton in Tennessee. He remembers Payton as a kind kid but hard to play against.

“My son phoned me and told me. Obviously, my son wasn’t in the car. But they were all headed to a team event,” said Stewart.

“He wasn’t the loudest kid in the room, but he carried a lot of gravity. Everybody, the kids, the teammates looked up to him. You can’t teach the kind of kindness that Payton brought to the teams.”

Payton played his whole minor lacrosse career with the Sherwood Park Titans. He was then drafted to the Baumeant Junior B Outlaws and played for the Edmonton Minor Junior program before getting drafted by Tusculum University.

“I’ve never met anybody that says anything bad about Payton,” said Baker.

Tusculum University, where Payton was playing lacrosse while also studying business administration, held a memorial service for him on Monday.

“These things can happen down the streets, but to happen overseas thousands of miles away, so it’s even harder. This is obviously devastating for his family, but also it’s really struck a nerve with the lacrosse community,” said Baker.

Four other students were also injured in the crash. None of their injuries were considered life-threatening.