Syracuse fullback Chris Elmore is driven by his best friend’s death

Chris Elmore leads SU out of the tunnel.The first indication that something had gone wrong on Monday, Sept. 8, 2014, came shortly after 8 a.m.

Chris Elmore began his sophomore year of high school the same way he had many others, by going to class and starring on the local football team. As Elmore strolled into his first period of the day at Wendell Phillips Academy (Illinois), he noticed a student walk out of a classroom. The room was dark.

Elmore peeked inside, where everybody had their head down. He asked what had happened. A classmate informed him his best friend had died in a fire. His heart sank. Elmore knew a lot about Carliysia Clark’s life, from its beginning — she was born May 8,…