CAMERON, Texas (KWTX) – A Central Texas community raised $140,000 at a steer auction to help fund a scholarship in memory of 18-year-old Ace Ashford of Lot, who tragically died Monday.
Ashford, a recent graduate of Rosebud Rott High School, said she was tending to a sick calf when the horse became startled.
“Somehow the man’s legs got tangled and the horse dragged him a considerable distance across the field,” Lott’s horse quarantine official told KWTX.
Paramedics transported Ashford to hospital by helicopter, where he had suffered a head injury but was breathing and had a pulse.
But paramedics said he was in a “terrible state” before dying from his injuries.
“He was a kind-hearted man who never met a stranger and had friends all over the United States,” said Ace’s grandfather, Richard McLaughlin. “Everybody loved him and he never had a bad word to say about anyone.”
The steer was donated by local veterinarian Jared Lanley, and the auction was held at the Milam County Livestock Auction in Cameron.
The bull was originally sold for $50,000 to a group of buyers made up of area ranchers, businesses and families, who quickly donated the bull and it was sold again.
This iteration raised a total of $140,000.
“We’re all ranchers, we all do different things, we all run sales halls, we all run different businesses, but at the end of the day, we all support each other,” said Kenny Mingus, owner of Milam County Livestock Auction.
The funds raised will go towards the Ace Ashford Memorial Scholarship, helping young people like Ashford to pursue higher education.
“I came up with the idea because Ace’s mother, Jamie, wanted to keep his memory alive forever and I committed to doing that,” Lanley said. “I have a friend named Justin Tucker and we set up this scholarship fund. The idea was to start this and put it together and provide scholarships for young men like Ace so that his legacy will live on forever and impact the lives of more people than we could ever imagine.”
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