Jason Hughes was the type of teacher known for going above and beyond for his students. It was also known that this time of year was maybe one of his favorites, a former student exclusively told Us Weekly.
“Coach Hughes always got excited about this time of year,” said Sheyden Maynor, who graduated from North Hall High School in Gainesville, Georgia. “He thought it was fun.
“It’s a well-known game among teachers and students around this time of year. It’s called junior-senior wars,” Maynor, 22, said about the game called “Rolling Trees,” which involves toilet-papering.
He explained to Us that the game is based on a point system: one point to the student if they roll another student’s house, two points if they roll a teacher’s or coach’s house and 3 points for an administrator’s house.
“[It] can’t be cars or mailboxes, just houses and trees. No eggs, no paintball guns,” he continued, adding he also participated in the game during high school.
Hughes, who taught math to freshman, sophomore, and junior students at the high school and served as the golf team’s coach, was killed in a freak accident on Friday, March 6.
A group of five students showed up outside his home to stream rolls of toilet paper onto his house and into the trees in his yard. Hughes, 40, tried catching the students as they sprinted to their cars. As Hughes neared the street, he either tripped or lost his footing and fell into the street where one of the cars ran him over.
The five students stopped to help Hughes and now face criminal charges for their roles in the fatal prank. However, Hughes’ wife has started a petition, seeking the dismissal of the charges, realizing what happened was an unfortunate accident.
“It was not a malicious act,” Maynor said, adding he has reached out to Laura Hughes — Jason’s wife, who is also a teacher at the high school — to offer his condolences. “It was just a tragic accident.”
Maynor was using Snapchat when he heard the news and was in a state of disbelief when he looked up the news reports.
“We just talked a few weeks prior,” Maynor explained. “We were catching up on things, his life, my life. He was doing good. I went to a football game in December and saw him. He was on the field. We had a cordial conversation. We kept in contact.”
Added Maynor: “I never saw him mad. He was a great guy all the way around.”
Last fall, Maynor was in a serious relationship, with his mind set on a proposal. But the woman ended up breaking his heart while he was on a hunting trip in a different state. Distraught, Maynor knew who he could turn to: Coach Hughes.
“I was bawling my eyes out and didn’t think make it through [the rest of the trip],” he said. “I was so upset. He was busy doing something but still stayed on the phone with me [for] one and half, two hours just talking to me, even though he was busy and helping me through this. He was a very Christian man, and he was a good servant to the Lord. He told me, ‘The Lord can help you — you just got to start praying.'”
He even recalled a group message Hughes sent to a group of students he worked with, saying he was available if ever they needed him.
“He would make time for anyone — for his students and a stranger,” Maynor said. “You have some good teachers and bad teachers, coach was one of those who touched your heart, he was a kind man and down to earth.”
Maynor said he will miss “all the good times we had,” and said that he’s grateful to have had the opportunity to know Hughes.
“It will be hard not having that rock to lean on if I need someone to talk to or to go do something with,” he confided.
Sheyden’s mom, Carol Lancaster, told Us that Hughes “was one of a kind” and someone her son “could always depend on. He loved his students with all he had and wanted them to succeed. … He has certainly left a void in our lives.”
Maynor said he hadn’t heard of anyone getting hurt before Hughes’ death but believes the future of the school pranking tradition may be in jeopardy, given the tragic circumstances: “I do think something is going to change about it.”
