Aquin assistant girls basketball coach, Fehr Graham co-owner Adam Holder dies at a game

FREEPORT — Aquin Schools canceled classes for grades 6-12 Friday after girls basketball assistant coach Adam Holder died suddenly of a blood clot in his lungs.

Holder was also a co-owner of Fehr Graham, an engineering and environmental firm with offices in Rockford and Freeport that was founded 49 years ago.

“He meant everything to Fehr Graham,” said Mick Gronewold, the company’s board chairman and close friend of Holder’s. “They don’t make them like him any more. He was passionate, smart, driven, caring, giving. I never met another man like him in our industry.

“Fehr Graham caters to smaller communities. We work for bigger communities like Rockford and Crystal lake, but who we are and what we were founded on is the smaller communities in northern Illinois and he would do anything for them. They were more his family than they were his clients.”

Aquin (13-9) was playing at Stockton (12-5) in an intra-division game between two perennial NUIC powers Thursday night when Holder had a medical emergency and died.

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Aquin officials invited members of the community and Aquin students to attend mass in the school auditorium at 12:30 p.m. Friday to commemorate Holder.

"Adam meant so much to so many in our community. With such a sudden, leaden loss, we, as an administration, a community, and a school, recognize the impact this will have on so many of our students," the school posted on Facebook.

"Adam was a longtime and treasured member of the Aquin community. He was a coach, a father, a role model and a cornerstone of our Aquin family."

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Besides coaching girls basketball at Aquin, Holder also helped out with the Aquin baseball team over the years and the summer travel baseball team.

"As long as I can remember, Adam has been coaching something," Gronewold said. "Sports was a big part of Adam's life. He loved coaching and all his kids were very active in sports. That was the other side of him. Outside of work, it was going to his kids' sporting events and participating by coaching as well."

While classes were canceled Friday, the school was open and staffed for students to stop by to grieve and heal from the loss.

"We invite and encourage students to come, of their own accord, and speak with us," the school wrote on Facebook. "Healing is a difficult process, but it's easier with help."

"Grief is a long journey, let us not take its first step alone."

Holder's visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Burke Tubbs Funeral Home in Freeport.

The funeral will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Freeport.

Matt Trowbridge: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com; @matttrowbridge

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Aquin honors basketball coach Adam Holder who died during a game