CLAWSON, Mich. (WXYZ) — “I’m not a person to sit around. I was out looking for Alex. We know the phone was binging in Berkey Hall, so I was going from Berkey Hall, to the hospitals trying to find our daughter. Nancy stayed vigilant at the Union,” Ted Verner said.
Every second of the night of Feb. 13, 2023, is seared on the hearts of Ted and Nancy Verner. It was a night that forever changed their family, when their middle daughter Alexandria Verner became one of the three students killed on campus.
Ted Verner shared with us a conversation he had with Alex.
“‘Dad, I love being at MSU.’ She was so at peace,” he recalled his daughter telling him. “And she enjoyed it, and we leased her a car to get around a little bit more and she was so happy.’”
Alex Verner was a junior with a 4.0. She had a smile as bright as her future in forensics and had a competitive spirit. That was cultivated in Clawson on her family’s hometown high school court.
“I’m a class of ‘83 graduate. To have my son as an all-state football player hanging on the wall and to have this gym named after our daughter is truly amazing,” Ted Verner said.
Her signature is now a symbol of strength, just like the way she played. Her signature is copied and written bold and bright on the court.
She has the school record for blocked shots in a game.
“We talk about Al (Alex) every single day at practice. She’s a big part of what we do every day because of what she did when she was here,” athletic director coach Kelly Horne said. “It's her character, it’s the way she was a competitor, her personality, her ability to get along with anybody.”
“We leave the locker room every day and say, ‘Let's go play like Al.’ And that's playing with heart and hustling everywhere,” Horne said.
“She's been in this gym literally before she could walk and so, to come full circle that they were honoring her with her name and her signature on this court and it's something that's going to be here for a very long time, it means the world to us,” Nancy Verner.
She is a symbol of strength for this small close-knit community of Clawson that has not only wrapped arms around the family but provided support for future generations in her name.
"Clawson has done an amazing job. In a very short time, they raised over $140,000 for her scholarship fund,” Ted Verner.
Say her name, know her story and never forget. That is the goal, Superintendent Billy Shellenbarger said. He will never forget that 5 a.m. call from Horne Valentine's morning.
“Our goal from day one, we said we want to talk about Al every day and with this gym, the timing was perfect to where we could embark on this project,” Shellenbarger said. “Twenty years from now and 30 years from now, 50 when we are gone and her family is not here anymore and her name is still here, we want people to ask, ‘Who is Alex Verner, and what was she about.’ Her legacy continues."
Ted and Nancy Verner are working with Michigan State University and state law enforcement to make a change.
“We have committees by monthly phone calls with representatives from MSU. It really was from Spartan Strong and how those funds are being distributed then from there, it morphed into the permanent memorial they are going to do on that committee on repurposing Berkey Hall,” Ted said.
“We are going to work with every prosecutor. We are starting with the attorney general... and we're working our way down with how we can make a difference, how can we make it, so someone don't go what we went through,” Ted Verner.
7 Action News’ Glenda Lewis asked how they want people to think of Alex.
“Her gentle kind spirit, her tenaciousness on the court. She always gave her best at whatever she did, but she was also able to back off and maintain and just hang out,” Nancy Verner said.
“Things that we have found out since her passing: teammates that she helped... that might not have been on the starting lineup, might have been struggling, and we found out after the fact how much she had helped them. And personally and in school and whatever athletic at the time.”
