May 13, 2008

Friends, classmates mourn student's death

By Melanie Carroll / Daily News Staff Writer

A gray box of tissues sat next to dozens of colorful messages written in chalk Monday at Woodside High School commemorating the young man who graduated last year and died tragically over the weekend.

"WE LOVE YOU ANTHONY" read the largest inscription on the cement walkway at the campus.

Another, in smaller letters, said "You made every room that much brighter."

Woodside guidance counselor Maureen Campbell said she and the school's other four counselors talked with at least a dozen students Monday who were struggling with the loss of their friend, Anthony Giraudo.

"A lot of kids are upset. He was very popular," Campbell said. "We're trying to be here for them."

The 18-year-old Canada College student from Redwood City allegedly was punched Friday night by 18-year-old Taylor Buckley outside AT&T Park during a Giants game and fell, his head striking the pavement. He died Saturday at San Francisco General Hospital. A moment of silence was held for the baseball fan at Monday night's Giants game at AT&T Park.

At Canada College, Giraudo was a redshirt freshman on the baseball team. The team played Saturday in the state baseball playoffs in Sacramento. Coach Tony Lucca said some of the players had tears in their eyes and you could hear the sadness in their voices.

"We were playing with a heavy heart," Lucca said. "There are not enough adjectives to describe" how people are feeling.

Canada sophomore Alex Tucker, 20, was in the same intermediate algebra math class as Giraudo.

On Monday the class discussed their fallen classmate after Phyllis Lucas-Woods, the school's vice president for student services, came in to discuss the incident along with a school counselor, Tucker said.

The reaction among students to the news was mostly silence and shock, Tucker said.

The baseball player was polite and always had a smile on his face, Tucker said.

Lucas-Woods said school athletes are putting up a temporary memorial, including a photograph of Giraudo, on the campus' Frisbee lawn. She said students and faculty were devastated and saddened by the young man's death - prompting her to visit all the classes Giraudo was taking to offer counseling services.

When Giraudo wasn't playing sports or studying, he worked part-time as a porter at Putnam Lexus in Redwood City, said general sales manager Cesar Caceres.

"He was a great kid: responsible, very respectful," Caceres said. "I think he was definitely raised properly."

As a porter, Giraudo greeted customers at the door, moved vehicles around the lot and sometimes helped out washing and detailing cars, Caceres said.

"No was never an option for him," Caceres said. "Whatever you need, he was there to help you."

In a twice-a-month custom, staff at the dealership gathered for pizza last Friday afternoon. Giraudo said he was looking forward to going to the Giants game that night, Caceres said.

"It's a pretty sad case when you send your kid to go watch a ballgame and he winds up dead," said Caceres, who has three young children. "Makes the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up."



Bay Area News Group staff writer Aaron Kinney contributed to this report.



E-mail Melanie Carroll at mcarroll@dailynewsgroup.com.