Top N.J. Football Player Killed In Crash Was A 'Brick Wall,' In Sports And Life, Friends Say

Everybody who knew Mikey knows they have to be a "brick wall" now, his friends say. Because that's what he was to them.

Because now he's gone.

"He had always been a brick wall for me and his family and everyone else that has ever known him," said his best friend, Jonathan Jasinski, on a GoFundMe page set up in Mike Devenio's memory.

Devenio, 24, died in a horrific four-car crash on Route 3 in East Rutherford at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday. Friends remembered the New Jersey football standout for being somebody they could always rely on, even with all the "crazy things" he used to do with his friends.

"He was a brother to me," said Jasinski, who operates the GoFundMe page that's intended to raise money for funeral costs.

As of Monday afternoon, it had raised more than $14,000.

"You're still here for us and we're here for you," Jasinski said. "So watch over us."

Devenio was killed and three others were seriously hurt in a four-car crash on Route 3, which was shut down for several hours Sunday morning as crews tended to the wreck, police said.

Devenio, of Lyndhurst, was a top football player at Paramus Catholic who made second-team as a wide receiver in the North Bergen Interscholastic League. He went on to play wide receiver at Western New England University from Paramus Catholic in 2010.

Paramus Catholic paid tribute to Devenio on its Facebook page:

But even with all those accolades, it was the personal things - the "crazy things" - that friends seemed to remember the most.

Gina Marie Mastrangelo remembered hanging out in the pool with "Mikey" and "making me laugh 'till I couldn't breathe and always wanting to cheer me up.

"I'll always remember your infectious smile," she wrote on Facebook. "You were loved by everyone."

Other friends also paid tribute to that spirit, and to him, on social media:

Photo 1 courtesy of Jonathan Jasinski on GoFundMe; photo2 courtesy of Western New England University; photo3 by Anna Shae Davis