By Tim Leeds
A Joplin teenager killed in a single-car rollover Sunday afternoon loved hunting and was involved in several sports at J-I High School, including the six-man football team that went to the state championship game.
Kevin Lineweaver, 15, was riding with two friends to go coyote hunting when the accident occurred, his mother said.
He lost control of his new Ford F-150 pickup when it started to fishtail as it traveled "at a high rate of speed" on the gravel on the North Inverness Road, skidded off the road and rolled into a field, the Montana Highway Patrol said.
Lineweaver, the son of Ron and Debbie Lineweaver of Joplin, died after he was partially thrown from the pickup and was pinned beneath it, the Highway Patrol said. One of the boys was thrown from the vehicle and the other remained inside.
Kevin's friends, Matt Tempel of Joplin and John Wolery of Chester, were taken to Liberty County Hospital for treatment. They were released Sunday, Debbie Lineweaver said.
Wolery, 15, is the son of Dan and Deb Wolery of Chester and Janine Wolery of Missoula. Tempel, 16, is the son of Greg and Trish Tempel of Joplin.
Debbie Lineweaver said her son, a freshman at J-I, went coyote hunting a lot.
"He loved to do that. He loved any type of hunting," she said.
Ron Lineweaver, who coached J-I High School's six-man football team into the state championship this year, said hunting and football were Kevin's two favorite activities. Kevin played on the team with his older brother, Curt. The team lost to Geraldine in the state championship 45-42.
"He was extremely fast," Debbie said. "He wasn't very big, but he was very quick."
Ron said Kevin played as a back on offense and as a defensive end.
Kevin played junior varsity basketball this winter, and planned to participate in track this spring. Ron said Kevin was the District 9-C champion in the 100 and 200 meter sprints last spring.
Between hunting, fishing, water sports and school athletics, Kevin always had something to do.
"Any athletics, anything to do with sports, Kevin was there," Debbie said.
In the summer he loved to fish. He water-skied and used his Wave Runner on Tiber Reservoir.
"He and his dad spent 10 days at Tiber this summer doing that," she added.
Kevin did a lot of things with friends, often with friends of the family or friends of his older brother. He had friends his age, Debbie said, but he seemed to like being with older people.
Another interest of Kevin's was the weather. Ron participated in a National Weather Service class to learn how to be a severe-weather spotter last spring, and Kevin attended it with him. Ron said Kevin was always on the computer checking on storms passing through the area.
"He would come back upstairs and say, It's not going to hit us. It's passing south,'" Ron said.
He added that although Kevin liked meteorology, he thinks Kevin would have been a farmer first. Kevin helped his dad on the family farm.
"He talked about being a weatherman but I think his true passion was farming," Ron said. "It's just farming is so tough right now he wasn't sure."
Another favorite thing of Kevin's was his Ford F-150, which he bought himself in August.
"It was his pride and joy," she said.
A memorial scholarship fund is being established for Kevin, Debbie said. It will benefit football or track athletes at J-I who are going on to college or a vo-tech and may expand later to other schools, Debbie said. She said grades weren't really important to Kevin, so that won't be a factor in the selection process.
