UVA starts scholarship in honor of slain players

The Virginia Cavaliers have established a memorial scholarship fund in honor of football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, who were all shot and killed after returning to campus from a field trip in November 2022.

The Virginia Athletics Foundation and Virginia Athletics on Tuesday announced the 1.15.41 Memorial Scholarship Fund will annually award scholarships to three football players who “embody the qualities these young men carried with them.”

The fund was made possible thanks to an anonymous donor who pledged $1 million.

“The 1.15.41 Memorial Fund is a powerful reminder and testament to the impact of Devin, Lavel and D’Sean,” athletic director Carla Williams said in a statement. “Their memory lives on through the recipients of this scholarship and we are extremely grateful for the establishment of this endowment.”

Last week, Virginia opened a new football operations center with a tribute to all three players, with a display on the first floor that features their jerseys — Nos. 1, 15 and 41.

Virginia previously announced it would pay a $9 million settlement to their families as well as two other students wounded in the shooting, including running back Mike Hollins.

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a former UVA student who was on the trip, has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder, five counts of the use of a firearm in a first felony offense and two counts of malicious wounding. His trial is scheduled for January.