2023 Caledonia grad, who was on the basketball team, dies in car crash
Caledonia’s Eljiah Holt drives to the basket during a Fall Ball game in Oct. 2022. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Recent Caledonia High School graduate Elijah Holt died in a car crash on Monday afternoon.
Holt played the past three years on the Caledonia basketball team.
“Elijah lit up every room he walked into with his infectious and often mischievous smile,” said former Caledonia coach Phil Visser. “He was a kid that everyone considered a friend because he was just that, a kind hearted young man.”
“He was a great kid,” said Kyan VanderWoude, a senior at Caledonia. “He was so kind. He was a good student. A great person.”
VanderWoude played on the basketball team with Holt.
“He came to Caledonia his sophomore year,” VanderWoude said. “He had to sit because he was coming from East Kentwood. So that year we got to know each other. He finally played his junior year on varsity.”
He said one of his favorite memories of Holt was him hitting a buzzer-beater to edge Jenison 62-60 on Jan. 21, 2023.
“My favorite memory with him was the Jenison game,” VanderWoude said. “It was a back-and-forth game and we had a chance to win it with like seven seconds left. He drove full court and made a miracle shot. It was a buzzer beater and we won the game off it. That was special for me.”
Visser said Holt was a team leader last season, even when he couldn’t play.
“Elijah broke his arm in (2022) AAU season and couldn’t play with us during the normal busy June high school sessions,” Visser said. “We were heading to Hope (College) for team camp and I thought ‘there’s no way Elijah is gonna pay $185 to go to Hope and sit out.’ Elijah texts me back and was like, ‘Coach, of course I’m coming to help lead and coach the guys up!’ He ended up putting in so many steps up and down the sideline helping coach and leading the way he always did. His selflessness is something that I will never forget.”
According to an article on Mlive.com, the car Holt was in, apparently hit a tree on U.S. 131 north of 17 Mile Road near Cedar Springs.
The Caledonia Athletics Instagram page said “Today CHS lost a good one. 2023 Caledonia graduate Elijah Holt was killed (Monday) morning in a car accident. … You will forever be missed.”
Holt’s father, Curtis Holt, was in a car accident on Aug. 24, 2023 and is was in critical condition at the time. He is stable, according to a Facebook post by a family friend.
A Go Fund Me was set up to help the family. Click the link below.
Go Fund Me
