All of us who knew him will remember the gentlemanly demeanor, the cover-of-GQ looks. We will remember his voice in our heads, the stately way he wore the uniforms of Montville High and Avery Point. And how if we ever had to advise high school kids on how to act, we just had to look at whatever Will Huntington happened to be doing at the time.

All of us who knew Will Huntington are also going to spend the rest of our lives missing him.

It is with unspeakable sorrow the following sentence is written: Will Huntington, the archetype of the term "student-athlete," died unexpectedly last weekend.

He was 31 years old.

There are no words.

But there are memories.

And Will created several lifetimes' worth during his time with us.

"He took two different sets of kids to the state finals in two different sports," his former baseball coach, Phil Orbe, once said of him. "If you talk to the football coaches, they'd tell you the same thing I am: He was the heart and soul of it. Not to take anything away from the other kids, but they'd tell you the same thing, too: Will was 'The Man.' Not too many kids want to be 'The Man.' A lot of the kids talk about it, but only a select few can do it."

Maybe that's where you start with him. He was The Man. And everybody else at Montville High in the mid-2000s knew it. Good Will Huntington never had to say it. Everyone else said it for him.

"He's one of those kids who comes along only once in a great while," former Montville High principal Tom Amanti once said of him.

Huntington helped author perhaps the greatest victory in the history of Montville High football in the fall of 2002. The Indians dethroned five-time defending state champion Bloomfield in the state semifinals. Will Huntington the next day:

"My parents said I could stay home from school if I wanted to," he said. "I told them, 'Are you kidding? I gotta enjoy this while I can.'"

Later in the spring, he took the baseball team to the state championship game.

And then Avery Point to the Junior College World Series.

Will Huntington played baseball at Vermont, later receiving a master of science degree in teaching and education from Lesley College. His body always looked as though it came from the manual. Will was a CrossFit guy, Yoga guy and, as the old Seinfield line goes, could bench press a dump truck.

Even with my recent bout with fatherhood, I maintain many other sons and daughters, too: The ones I've written about for 25 years. Will graduated from column subject to friend. We hadn't seen each other in a while until two months ago at a St. Thomas More basketball game. Will was teaching math there and was about to become the baseball coach.

Our eyes caught each other at the game.

Me: "WILL!"

Will: "MR. D!"

Bear hug.

And the conversation went for 30 minutes. The old days, the games, the lines, the memories. The current days, how excited he was to start coaching and how he would employ every drill Orbe every taught him. And this gem:

"The kids are supposed to clean their rooms (at St. Thomas More) every night," Will said. "I asked one of the basketball players to do it and he didn't. So I mentioned it to (legendary basketball coach) Jere Quinn the next day. I think the kid apologized to me, on and off, a dozen times that week."

I couldn't wait to see my first baseball game at STM this spring. The kid who was his high school's pied piper would be doing exactly what he should have been doing in adulthood: imparting his wisdom to kids.

Our hearts ache for his mom, Susan, who did a wonderful job raising him. There are no words for her. Except to suggest she ought to consider writing a novel on parenting.

This kid was one of a kind.

And may William Lathrop Huntington IV rest in peace.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius