'A special kid': Grant Freeze's swim coach speaks on teen's legacy, as family prepares for organ donation

CEDARBURG, Wis. (CBS 58) — Wisconsin's swimming community is mourning the loss of an accomplished athlete and beloved son.

Family of 16-year-old Grant Freeze tells us he will not survive after a car crash in Mequon on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 2.

Family says Freeze was on his way to swim practice, when he hit a dump truck head-on.

Freeze is from Fox Point and attended Nicolet Union High School.

Days after the crash, his longtime swim coach spoke to CBS 58 about the legacy the teen will leave behind.

"You could not find a person that didn't like Grant. You could not," said Steve Keller, the head coach at Ozaukee Aquatics.

The pool at Cedarburg High School was Freeze's second home, where he trained several times a week.

Now, swim practices and meets will have a missing piece.

"Grant's a special kid," Keller said.

He joined Ozaukee Aquatics at ten years old, following the footsteps of his older brother, Connor.

The head coach watched Freeze excel in and out of the water.

"He put a lot of pressure on himself," Keller said. "But I think if you ask any of the kids that swam against Grant, he was happy for them when they succeeded."

They had a ritual during swim meets: Coach Keller would hold Freeze's glasses.

"We'd have a good time on the pool deck, but when it was time to race, he'd take his glasses off, he'd hand them to me, and it was time to swim," he explained. "It's going to be the hardest thing for me to break."

Freeze recently set state records and qualified for nationals.

This week, he was supposed to attend a select team camp at an Olympic training center.

"Like 35% to 40% of the kids that get invited to this camp make it onto the Olympic team," Keller explained. "So, he was on the Olympic team track."

Big dreams, cut short by tragedy.

"What he did from the moment he joined our club through present day is going to stay with us for a lifetime," Keller said. "Grant made me a better person."

Soon, Freeze will be taken off life support, but he will live through others as an organ donor.

It's a choice the teen made himself, when he got his driver's license just five weeks ago.

"He had the wherewithal to think about other people, and we're just super proud of him," Keller said.

Through heartbreak, the coach will keep swim practices going, bringing teammates together to grieve.

"Grant wants everybody in the water, grant would want to continue to swim, and swim in your honor if it were the other way around," Keller said.

A GoFundMe has been started for the Freeze family, as they move toward memorializing their son.

His mother, Kellie, shared a sentimental post on Facebook, writing in part:

"My Lego-loving, candy-eating, goofy, Frank Sinatra-singing baby. There will never be a moment where we don’t miss you, and we will never stop being proud of you."