Princess Anne students mourn classmate

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - School starts in two weeks in Virginia Beach. When it does, there will be one less smiling face at Princess Anne High School.

16-year-old Ricky Young, a rising junior, died Saturday. He had open heart surgery last week.

In life, size isn't measured by someone's height but rather how big a heart someone has.

"He was just a fun loving kid," said one of Young's friends.

"I didn't see a little guy," said Princess Anne baseball coach Jimmy Hunt. "I saw this heart that was a lot bigger than that body."

And no one was a better example of that than Ricky Young.

"He was just always the one that lightened up the mood," said friend Tyler Ray. "Everybody knew him. You could tell him from a mile away. You knew his voice, his laugh and you knew he was there."

Young was born with a heart condition and he recently underwent open heart surgery.

"He was doing fine," said friend Andrew Stone.

He was slowly recovering, but Saturday night Ricky collapsed and died. His mom said he went into cardiac arrest.

"I love him," added Stone.

Young was a baseball player at Princess Anne. Teammates say he was the hardest working athlete they knew.

"Every day he would tell me he would hit a homerun today," said former teammate Austin Caughorn. "He didn't hit a homerun, but I know he's up there right now with God hitting home runs on a sweet baseball field."

"It's going to be different going back to school without him," Ray added.

Family says the viewing for Ricky Young will be this Friday and then the funeral will be Saturday. The information is posted below:

Ricky Young Viewing
Friday, Aug. 27th
6-8 p.m.
HD Oliver Funeral Home
2002 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach

Ricky Young Funeral
Saturday, Aug. 28th
11AM
Church of the Ascension
4853 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach