JMU football helmets will feature decal honoring shooting victims

James Madison University football helmets will feature decals honoring the two journalists who were killed during a live television broadcast on Aug. 26.

James Madison football players will wear helmet decals during their season opener to honor the two journalists who were killed during a live television broadcast, the school announced Wednesday.

Adam Ward and Alison Parker were shot and killed during a broadcast for CBS affiliate WDBJ-7 on Aug. 26. Ward graduated from Virginia Tech in 2011, and Parker graduated from JMU in 2012.

In their honor, the decal will feature a number 7 flanked by purple and maroon ribbons, the colors of the journalists' alma maters. Virginia Tech football helmets will sport a similar decal.

The journalists will be remembered with a moment of silence before the season-opening game against Morehead State on Saturday.

“It is important for us as a community to come together in support after the tragic events of last week,” JMU athletics director Jeff Bourne said after the shooting. “Both Alison and Adam were shining lights for their alma maters, their families, their communities and their workplace at WDBJ.”

Both James Madison and Virginia Tech have created scholarships in memory of Parker and Ward.

- Erin Flynn