'Friend To Everybody': Services Set For Beloved Tinley Park Coach

TINLEY PARK, IL — Services have been set for a beloved Tinley Park coach who leaves behind a legacy of devotion, selflessness, and passion.

Ares Roper, 42, died suddenly over the weekend, after collapsing while heading to coach his son's game at Vogt Field. Roper was a longtime force within Tinley Park Bobcats and Bulldogs baseball and football programs, whose loss has devastated those within the organizations.

"He was just one of those great guys, a friend to everybody," said Adam Lewandowski, founder and president of the T-Bolt Football Foundation. "Always willing to help out, chip in, coach, cook."

Roper, his wife Erica and sons Ethan and Liam are deeply loved among the Tinley Park sports community, he said.

"He was always in such great spirits," Lewandowski said, of Ares. "Always so incredibly generous, and his wife is exactly the same. Ethan and Liam are two of the sweetest, most positive, bubbliest kids you’ll ever be around.

"Just their natural way about the family, makes this so hard for everybody."

Lewandowski, with Tinley Park Athletics Club Commissioner Eric Schmidt, started a GoFundMe to help support the family following Roper's death. It has raised $21,000 as of Wednesday.

"We all collectively thinking the same thing," Lewandowski said. "We needed to rally together, rally around them, love them as big as we could. Money doesn’t make up for any life, but it definitely does help with taking care of some of the things that need to be taken care of, especially on the front end. We want to try to provide any kind of relief, comfort, assistance that we can."

Air Force veteran Roper coached elementary and middle school baseball teams for nearly 10 years.

"Ares found his true calling not only in service to his country but also in the joy of grilling and coaching youth sports," the fundraiser reads. "He poured his heart into every game, every practice, and every meal."

Roper devoted his springs and early summers to Bobcats Baseball, and his late summers and falls to Bulldogs Football, according to the fundraiser.

"Beyond the field and the kitchen, he was a fixture in the stands, cheering on Ethan at Andrew High School and Liam with the Bulldogs wrestling program," it reads. "His presence was larger than life, his encouragement unwavering, and his impact immeasurable."

Rallying around the family seemed instinctual to Lewandowski and other organization leaders. Teams and individuals have planned tributes in honor of Roper. One Bobcats 10u travel team earlier this week held a moment of silence for Roper prior to the singing of the National Anthem.

"It’s such a huge loss, it’s one of those unimaginable things," he said. "It was such a shock when it happened—let’s get together, rally around them, help them any way that they need.

"This community is very significant, very special in that way. We all know that this is something we do for each other. We’re always there for each other. We wanted to show them how much they’re loved and appreciated."

Schmidt on Wednesday applauded the community for coming together.

"Watching our community rally around one of our own is absolutely amazing," Schmidt wrote on social media. "You have shown the world that the Bulldogs is not simply the place/team where our kids wrestle, play football, lacrosse or cheer—Bulldogs is the place where friendships are formed, extended families grow, a place where we laugh together, party together and yes sometimes cry together. I have always been proud to be a Bulldog, proud to have spent my youth here; but it’s times like this that reinforce my pride and confidence that the Tinley Park Bulldog community is on a level that most can’t imagine."

Services for Roper have been set, with a viewing to be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 5, at Lain-Sullivan Funeral Directors, 50 Westwood Dr., in Park Forest.

A memorial will be held at 6 p.m. the same day, at Tinley Park Bulldogs Field House, 6601 171st St., in Tinley Park.