First-year remembered after fatal accident

Travis Leroy Mahan, first-year business major, was killed Fridayin a motorcycle accident.

Mahan, 20, was traveling east on Fondren and failed to stop atthe stop sign. Mahan struck the front right panel of a Yukon at11:51 a.m. The Yukon was traveling south on Boedeker.

Mahan was ejected from the motorcycle. He landed in the frontyard of the house located at 2853 Fondren.

Officers James L. Savage and L.B. Harris were dispatched to thescene.

Harris reported seeing a white male with a blue bandana on hishead, speed through the stop sign at University and Boedeker.Harris estimated Mahan’s speed to be 50 mph.

At 11:44, Harris pulled on to University and deployed hislights. According to the police report, Harris also witnessed Mahanrun stop signs at University and Durham and at University andAirline.

Mahan turned onto Airline, then west onto Daniel heading towardsthe parking garage.

At 11:45, Harris turned off his lights when Mahan drove onto thewalkway and continued south.

According to the police report, Mahan made a wide circle thenheaded back east.

When Harris was dispatched to the accident, he identified thevictim as the man he had tried to stop.

University Park Fire Department paramedics responded to thescene and transported Mahan to Presbyterian Hospital.

Mahan suffered severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at12:38 p.m.

“He probably would have survived if he had been wearing ahelmet,” University Park Police Captain M.C. Brock said.

According to the crisis management log, eight students have diedsince Jan. 2002. Motorcycle accidents are to blame for two of thosedeaths.

Friday night, Mahan’s friends and acquaintances gatheredMorrison-McGinnis Hall to sign a poster and two journals in hismemory.

“The journals and posters are wonderful,” Assistant ChaplainJudy Henneberger said.

Friday night was very healthy and helpful for the students,Henneberger said. It was great to see how students love and carefor one another, she said.

“There’s nothing we can say or do. We can just be there [forstudents],” Henneberger said.

Around 10 p.m. Friday night, Jessica Bowman, Morrison-McGinnishall director, and her staff were passing out candles in Mahan’smemory.

Several students gathered in the South Quad gazebo to comfortone another.

“It gave students a way to express themselves without leavingthe [quad],” Bowman said.

Many of Mahan’s close friends live in the South Quad.

MacElvaney resident Whitney Stites said, “The more I got to knowhim, the more I was drawn to him.”

He had a very effervescent personality and could always make mesmile, first-year finance and economics major Krystal Crisssaid.

First-year business major Brian Wolf said that Mahan was like abrother to him.

“He was completely genuine and determined to succeed. Anythinghe put his mind to, I have no doubt he would have done it,” Wolfsaid.

While not everyone in Morrison-McGinnis knew Mahan, he wasfriendly to everyone, Bowman said.

Wolf’s mother Karen recalls hosting Mahan for Thanksgivingdinner at her Southlake home.

“I liked him right away. He was a nice, personable kid,” shesaid.

Mahan is survived by his father Sean, mother Avea, stepmotherJody, older brother Brian, and younger brother Christopher.

Mahan’s wake is Friday night from 6-9 p.m., and his funeral isSaturday at 2 p.m. in his hometown of Kansas City, Kan.

Mahan’s campus memorial service is scheduled for Sunday. Signswill be posted around campus for further details.

Counseling is available in the Chaplain’s office, room 316 inHughes-Trigg.