A 16-year-old Denton boy drowned off the east shore of Westlake Park in Lake Dallas on Saturday evening.

Remond Elder Jr.

Remond Elder Jr., a junior varsity football player for Guyer High School, was being towed behind a boat on an inner tube at a family picnic, when the floatation device flipped over 50 yards from shore, said Chip Daigle, a state game warden with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Rescue efforts were made by a family friend, but he was unable to find the teenager in the murky water, said his family.

Remond spent about 45 minutes underwater before he was recovered by the Lewisville Fire Department’s dive team and rushed to Denton Regional Medical Center.

Remond was found under 7 to 9 feet of water, caught up in a fishing line, which the avid swimmer apparently was unable to escape from, Daigle said.

The medical examiner’s office ruled the death an accidental drowning.

Remond had turned 16 less than a week ago.

Whenever Guyer’s JV football team scored a rushing touchdown, it was Remond running the ball, said John Walsh, head coach for the Guyer football program.

Although undersized for the game, Remond made up for it with his colossal desire to do well and make the varsity team, Walsh said.

“He was an extremely hard worker and committed to the program,” Walsh said. “He had a good, positive personality. He would’ve made varsity this year. He was power runner.”

The team will gather for a devotional in remembrance of Remond at Guyer’s football field at 9:30 a.m. today, Walsh said.

“It’s been a good outpouring of teammates and coaches,” he said. “Our hearts are heavy right now. … It affects the whole program. We’re a close-knit family up here.”

Football had brought Remond out of his introspective shell and he had become very outgoing, said his mother, Quibilah Crowder.

“He wanted everyone to love [each other],” his mother said. “He told me all the time, ‘I love you.’”

He was always thinking about one football thing or another, working on his speed and agility, his family said.

“He ate, slept and walked football,” Crowder said. “He was very athletic.”

Remond would crunch out 200 sit-ups and 100 pull-ups a day.

“He would push and push. … All he wanted to do was be the star of the team,” his mother said. “He was a team player.”

Along with football, Remond played basketball nearly all his life, said his family. He also attended a weekly bible study at Antioch Christian Fellowship.

Remond was a role model for his younger siblings and had the drive to succeed at anything in life, said his father, Remond Elder Sr.

“I wanted him to do better than me,” Elder said. “I wanted him to reach beyond me. He had a jump-start.”

Remond’s survivors include his mother and stepfather, Quibilah and Mose Crowder; his father, Remond Elder Sr.; two brothers, DeVonte, 13, and Keilon, 9; sister, Karrington, 6; stepbrother, Colton Crowder, 18; stepsister D’Earka Crowder, 16; and half-sister Morgan Crowder, 5.

Funeral services are pending with Peoples Funeral Home, but the family said they’re planning visitation on Friday night and a funeral service on Saturday, the day Remond was planning to celebrate his 16th birthday with friends.

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com .