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Family and community in Tennessee mourn high school runner who died at age 15

At 15, Tristin Franklin was not allowed to drive without an adult. He had never voted, had not yet had his first girlfriend and was just 10 days away from his 16th birthday when he died Tuesday in Cheatham County, his mother said.

Tristin, a Sycamore High School sophomore and cross-country athlete, was jogging in his Pleasant View neighborhood, something he did often, according to those who knew him best, when a local resident found him in distress and called an ambulance, said BJ Hudspeth, Cheatham County Emergency Services director.

The boy was taken to TriStar Ashland City Medical Center at 5:50 p.m. Tuesday, Hudspeth said, noting that resuscitation efforts began when medical personnel arrived on scene. However, Hudspeth would not say Friday whether Tristin was still alive when he arrived at the hospital.

The National Weather Service in Nashville said temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday at Cheatham Dam, about 17 miles (27 kilometers) from Pleasant View.

The cause of death is pending after an autopsy was performed by the Davidson County Coroner's Office, but the uncertainty weighed heavily on Tristin's parents, who waited for answers in the days following his death.

“God forbid if it's related to a heart condition that was never diagnosed,” Tristin's mother Patricia Franklin said Friday. “He never had any disease that we knew about.”

“A wonderful young man”

Tristin is the youngest son of Patricia Franklin, a nurse, and her husband, Philip, a retired Fort Campbell soldier who later worked as a contractor. He grew up in Cheatham County and has lived in the same house in Pleasant View his entire life, his mother said.

His older sister Carly recently completed her law studies.

The siblings were close.

“Over the years they grew closer and closer… I was just amazed at all the funny things they experienced,” Patricia Franklin said. “The first thing my daughter said when I had to tell her he died… he was so loving and funny, and he was a joker, and he was very smart and he was gifted.”

“He was just a wonderful young man.”

Besides running, Tristin loved school, especially math. He loved cooking and his mom said he was looking forward to getting a new cookbook in the next few days. He also loved escape rooms, especially on birthdays. His birthday was September 6th.

“We were out of the room for what felt like 10 minutes,” said Patricia Franklin. She and her husband sometimes laughed to themselves on Friday as they recalled memories of their son. Sometimes their voices broke as they tried to finish their sentences.

Many of Tristin's friends, teammates, classmates, neighbors and community members have stopped by his home to tell his family stories about what Patricia Franklin says makes “this small, small town” so special.

“They were just so eloquent in sharing their memories of Tristin and how all the girls in town – who we never knew – were so crazy about Tristin that they fainted,” she said.

“We always knew he was handsome, but he always said, 'Ma, those are just mother's eyes.' That's the family joke.”

Another classmate told the couple that Tristin often took time in class to help students who were struggling.

“(He was) very passionate and caring. He always wanted to help others first. That was his number one goal,” Philip Franklin said. “He always wanted to know how other people were doing and tried to help them, especially his mother. He was very close to his mother.”

Patricia Franklin explained, “Whenever I sighed wrong, he would always say, 'Mommy, are you OK?' and I would always have to explain it to him. I would always say, 'Honey, it's OK. Mommy is OK. I'm just taking a moment,' because he was always so caring.”

There was also unexpected visitors.

“One of the neighbors that Tristin greets every day when he goes for a run and pets his dog came by and brought a prayer shawl,” Patricia Franklin said, adding that she had never met the man before, “but this neighbor was so affected.”

Become an athlete

Tristin began his career in baseball, his parents said, then joined his elementary school football team and decided to pursue running shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“I didn't care what sport he played, but I always wanted him to play a team sport because it builds camaraderie,” said Philip Franklin.

When he joined the cross country team, he blossomed.

“He was just really excellent at it,” said Patricia Franklin. Her husband believes it had a lot to do with Tristin's attention to detail.

“I always tell him, 'Whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability, and I don't care if you fail as long as you give 100%.' I guess he's always applied that to everything he does. At least that's what his friends say,” Philip Franklin said proudly of his son.

Karen Gordon will always remember Tristin as an avid runner. Her 14-year-old grandson was Tristin's pacing partner at Sycamore, she said.

“He ran all the time,” Gordon said, noting that it was not unusual to see him log extra miles. “He usually tried to run 10 miles a day.”

For Tristin, who had been a member of No Limit Fitness since he was ten years old, training was also a priority.

“He was an exceptional athlete and an exceptionally kind young man,” a gym representative posted about Tristin on social media on Thursday. “We are saddened by his passing and wish to express our deepest condolences to his family and friends.”

His parents said Tristin's dream is to go to college, where he will study engineering and compete as a cross-country athlete, and he is putting in the work necessary to get there. They even hired a private trainer to help him during the summer, they said.

“He was just dedicated, always training… and it paid off,” said Philip Franklin. “At the first cross country race, he came first out of 100 kids. He was excited… juniors and seniors were all running cross country and he came first.”

“His coach told us he really has unlimited potential.”

After Tristin's death, his parents want to organize a 5k memorial run to be held annually in his honor.

“I want to do it because he's my son and I want people to remember him,” Patricia Franklin said, her voice breaking. “He was just so loving. He was a wonderful brother. He was a wonderful son… God gave him wonderful gifts… and when he was on this earth, people felt that and he was just so sweet.”

Katie Nixon can be reached at [email protected].

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