Parents, friends of Barrington graduate turn tragedy into anti-fentanyl mission

On the morning of Dec. 1, 2022, Barrington High School graduate Josh Burks, a former Broncos football player and track and field athlete studying business at Illinois State University, died of fentanyl poisoning while at home.

Burks, who had just turned 20, became one of the 150 Americans who succumb daily to fentanyl overdose, said his father, Lawyer Burks.

Like other inspiring parents rocked by unconscionable loss, “Law” Burks and his wife, Cyndi, turned activist rather than reel inward. They plunged into researching this scourge and in February 2024 established The Josh Burks Foundation.

The purpose is to spread awareness of the risks involved with opioid use through “nonjudgmental conversations” with people 13 to 25 years old, Law Burks said.

Josh Burks, for example, didn’t know he’d ingested a counterfeit pill laced with more than four times the fatal dose of fentanyl. Once a 265-pound defensive end for the Broncos, Class of 2021, he died within 90 seconds, his father said.

(In 2023, a Barrington man was indicted by a statewide grand jury on a charge of drug-induced homicide. He remains in the Lake County jail awaiting trial in April, Law Burks said.)

Josh Burks, like all of us, was only human. He’d been receiving help for opioid use disorder when he took that fateful risk. But he also was great in sales at the local Dick’s Sporting Goods and loved his college business studies. In the seventh grade he’d been baptized at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, where the Burks live.

“He was a vibrant 20-year-old that was full of energy,” his father said. “He loved football, loved animals, was just a really friendly person. Everybody really, really liked Josh.”

Bringing it back to high school, Barrington football coach Joe Sanchez added testimony to The Josh Burks Foundation website (joshburksfoundation.org), “His smile could light up a hallway.”

Many of us are within a degree or two of knowing someone who’s lost a loved one to opiates, if not fentanyl. The drug — 50 times more potent than heroin — was linked to roughly two-thirds of the 107,000 American overdose fatalities in 2021, according to the Addiction Group.

“We just don’t want this to happen to another family. That’s why we want to speak about this,” said Law Burks, whose foundation in 2024 provided four $2,500 scholarships to prospective business administration student-athletes at Barrington High School, and will again this May.

“As Christians we believe in service above self, and it allows us to provide a service as opposed to just not talking about it,” Burks said.

In addition to The Josh Burks Foundation (Instagram @JBurksForLife) a group of Barrington High School student leaders has embraced the mission.

Seniors and twin brothers Nick Peipert and Josh Peipert started the Josh Burks High School Foundation Council last summer, starting with helmet decals and presentations to groups such as Barrington Youth Football and at the Broncos’ 2024 football banquet, where they presented Cyndi Burks with her son’s jersey.

“His death really touched something in our hearts and we really wanted to spread awareness and make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again, or make sure people know what the risk is,” Josh Peipert said.

Seeking to continue the council after they head to college — a star quarterback, Nick will play at the University of St. Thomas while two-year starting linebacker Josh is undecided with an offer from Valparaiso — they’re joined by Barrington juniors Jake Cerasani and Luke Tepas, and sophomores Morgan Giordano and Sydney Peipert, their sister.

The council is working to prepare a half-hour presentation at the high school.

“This is a great thing that’s happening,” Nick Peipert said. “Reaching out to a lot of freshmen, to your school, and then trying to spread the word about fentanyl.”

Aided by Cyndi Burks, who worked with the school administration to establish the Josh Burks High School Foundation Council as an official organization and others such as BHS-TV’s Charlie Trapp, and Burks’ close friend, Tom Sweeney, vice president of youth on the Burks Foundation board, the students have designed a compelling program.

“I really think they’ve knocked it out of the park,” said Michael Peipert, the twins’ and Sydney’s father, who first came to know Law Burks coaching against him in flag football. He’s now on the foundation board of directors.

Through interactive activities, multimedia and other material the high school council will outline fentanyl’s dangers, risks and consequences, and address The Josh Burks Foundation.

As the Burks family seeks to expand its mission to other communities, Josh and Nick Peipert hope to work with other schools to start their own programs.

The end of their presentation will include a video on Josh Burks.

“We tie it back to Josh, because Josh took a risk taking that pill,” Peipert said.

Kudos to the Burks and the council for taking the next step.

“It’s been an opportunity for the community to turn a tragedy into a cause for good,” Law Burks said.