The late Spencer Collart, a boys varsity lacrosse player for and a 2020 graduate of Washington-Liberty High School, was remembered by the school during an April 29 halftime ceremony of a home match between the host Generals and Yorktown Patriots.
Collart’s parents, Bart and Alexia, and younger sister, Gwyneth, were present and presented with Spencer’s framed No. 18 white and blue varsity jersey, which he wore when playing for the Generals.
“We definitely have space to hang this in our house, and we will,” Bart Collart said.
Prior to the presentation, Bart Collart read a brief biography about his son’s life, describing how much he liked playing lacrosse for W-L and his Marine life.
Collart, a U.S. Marine corporal, died Aug. 23 of last year when he was a crew chief on an Osprey aircraft that crashed during military training exercises in Australia. He was one of three Marines killed. There were 20 survivors of the crash.
Collart is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
“Spencer always had so much fun and was all in about sports,” Bart Collart told the GazetteLeader in an earlier interview. “He found his tribe and loved everything about sports. He enjoyed the action and everything about playing and being on a team. That’s a big reason he joined the Marines right after he graduated from high school.”
For two seasons at W-L, Collart was a defenseman and longstick midfielder for the varsity lacrosse team.
At the end of the ceremony, Washington-Liberty boys lacrosse head coach Evan Rodger and Yorktown head coach Greg Beer each spoke separately with Bart Collart. Rodger told Bart Collart that he was lucky to have had the opportunity to coach his son. Beer took time away from meeting with his team at halftime to talk with Bart Collart for a few minutes.
Baseball, basketball, karate, running, soccer and wrestling were other sports Collart played growing up in Arlington.
