Of the sports that Tyler Scheidt played, tennis was never his best, although his breaking his own nose with his racket while playing employed next-level skill.

It wasn’t the typical racket break you’d expect from a tennis player, where the player hits themselves from the front, Dave Cotner, a teacher at Highland High School, said Friday night as at least 20 of Scheidt’s closest friends gathered in his family room to talk about their “brother,” who was killed Wednesday at Indianapolis Boulevard and Ridge Road in Highland.

Scheidt, 21, whose height they put at somewhere between 6 feet 5 inches and 6 feet 7 inches but settled on 6 feet 6 inches, had a “freakishly long arm span,” Cotner said, so when he threw his arm around to take the swing, his racket came from around his neck and smacked him square in the face from the back.

He’d never seen anything like it, Cotner said. For those who loved Scheidt, though — and there are legions, as evidenced by the hundreds of people who’ve celebrated the young man’s life since Wednesday — it tracks that if there was a way to make getting an injury uniquely your own, he was the person who would.

Scheidt was killed in a four-car accident as he was walking across Ridge Road at Indianapolis Boulevard in Highland the morning of Aug. 18, police said — only two days before he was expected to return to Wabash College to start his junior year. Police are still investigating the crash and are unable to release more information, Highland Police spokesman Cmdr. John Banasiak said Monday.

His friends, still reeling, found a fleeting peace and even levity in talking about Scheidt, who they said was never exactly the same person with people because he would create his own way of communicating with each person. Scheidt, for example, gave Mark DeLeon, 21, his own special nickname.

“He called me ‘Daddy Moo-Moo,’ ” DeLeon said, laughing. “And then he’d be like, ‘Would you say it for me?’ and I

couldn’t not say it: ‘Daddy Moo-Moo.’ ”

DeLeon, along with Joey Tellez, Lee Smith, Connor Olah and a few others, worked with Scheidt for the Highland Parks and Recreation Department over the summer. At some point, Scheidt had a zoo going at one of the facilities.

“There was a raccoon over here and another animal over here and then there was a dead snake that he was carrying around everywhere. When he put it down, he looked at me and was like, ‘Connor! You can’t lose the snake!’ ” Olah said.

Driving with Scheidt in one of the parks trucks was always an adventure, too, Tellez said, because both are tall, and Scheidt insisted on sitting in the front. The gear shift became a problem with their knees, he said.

“(Working at Parks) wasn’t work for him; it was hanging out with his buddies and getting paid,” Smith added.

He was the kid who first graders would “climb like a tree” when he was a fifth grader at Merkley Elementary because he was so tall. And he was the guy who loved when it was raining out while sunny — the exact weather the day he died, the friends said.

But for all his goofiness, he was utterly kind and never left anyone out, his best friend, Katy Bedka, 20, said.

“I was going through my memory box and freshman year, we were in (a school club) and we were told to write something about everyone. Tyler wrote, ‘Sadly, you’re my best friend,’ ” Bedka said. “But as I was going through it, on another page he’d written a whole paragraph about us being best friends.

“I don’t know why I kept it, but I’m glad I did.”

And he fiercely loved his little brother, Camden, even if Cam once attacked him with a whiffle ball bat during a highly spirited game when they were kids.

“He was all right,” Cam Scheidt said, grinning. “He was the kindest soul, and his smile was just contagious. We shared a room, and as soon as the lights were out, I’d chuckle, and then we would just die laughing over everything.”

Scheidt’s favorite teacher, Keith Gough, remains heartbroken over the loss.

“Tyler was a remarkable person, someone who exuded positivity and humility in the classroom, on the court and in the community,” Gough wrote in a message to the Post-Tribune. “In his every word and action, Tyler proved that being a pillar of your community has nothing to do with age or position. He was a representative of the best things we hope to find in ourselves and others — a model of character to all of those around him. I am going to miss him terribly.”

Tyler Scheidt is survived by his parents, Damon and Donna Scheidt; his brother, Camden, and legions of people who called him “friend.” His visitation is set for 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the Lon Monbeck Auditorium at Highland High School, 9135 Erie St.; his funeral service will be held 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, 3025 Highway Ave, Highland.

Michelle L Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.