“It was a very catastrophic thing to happen,” says Kross. “You know, young guys just starting to have their own life and seeing the life of one of their good friends gone—it’s pretty difficult to understand.”
The second trial proved to be a boon for the defendants: two were acquitted and Easterling was handed the lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 to 20 years at the Mass. State Penitentiary.
A disappointed Kross told The Crimson the day after the acquittals that unlike the three defendants, his friend Puopolo had not been given a second chance.
Reflecting on the event, the now middle-aged Kross tries to look for the positive. He says that each year, ex-football players kick off Harvard-Yale weekend with an alumni football game with proceeds donated to the Andrew Puopolo Scholarship Fund.
Shofner, who conceived of the idea, depicts Pupolo as an aspiring physician, religious and widely liked.
“He was just a very together individual who was aware of his goodness but wasn’t arrogant enough to expect you to,” says Shofner. “You couldn’t help but admire his smile, his laughter, his leadership.”
—Staff writer Robin M. Peguero can be reached at peguero@fas.harvard.edu.