PITTSBURGH — Channel 11 is learning more about the young man killed in a crash in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood.
It happened along Beechwood Blvd. around 1 a.m. Thursday.
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Eighteen-year-old Jakob Sirlin died. He had just graduated from Pittsburgh Allderdice High School. Three others in the car were injured. One had also just recently graduated. The other two are students, there.
Sirlin was a standout athlete and high school valedictorian. He’d recently received an award from the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and had planned on attending Rhode Island School of Design in the Fall.
“It hurts. I’m at a loss for words,” longtime friend Jack Cohen said. He met Jakob when the two were just six years old.
“I woke up and my mom [told] me my friend has passed,” he said.
The two played on the soccer team together and met most weeks to play basketball.
“No matter how bad the situation was, he would always try to lift us up,” he said of his friend.
“I fondly remember his father, who was our game day announcer, calling his name on senior night and him going onto the field,” Allderdice soccer coach David Thyberg said.
He coached him all four years and said Jakob was a “scrappy defender” who was always willing to pitch in.
“We have a tight-knit community here at Allderdice. Our soccer team just can’t believe this news. I was in shock,” he said.
Flowers were resting under a tree at the site of the crash that took Jakob’s life.
It was a life, friends say, that had a deep impact.
“Good nature and heart. At the end of the day, we need people like that in this world,” his coach said.
“One thing he taught me was to live in the moment. No matter how bad life gets, there’s always something to appreciate,” Cohen said.
Police do believe speed was a factor. It’s too early to tell if charges will be filed.
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