UCLA Band Will Perform at Candlelight Vigil for Oscar Cabrera at Franklin Tonight

Oscar Cabrera, who built his legacy as a sports star at Benjamin Franklin High School, will be remembered on the school's baseball field with a candlelight vigil tonight at 6:30 p.m. 

Franklin and UCLA alumni, as well as the UCLA Marching Band, will be on hand to remember Cabrera, who died last Friday due to complications from rare type of cancerous tumor.

He led the Panthers baseball squad to the City 3A Championship in 1994. According to the Los Angeles Times, Cabrera drove in the winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning to help Franklin beat Huntington Park at Dodger Stadium.

"He gave us the best cheering days of our lives. It hasn't been until recently that we realized, 'man, we were going to school with a superstart athlete,'" said Priscilla Ochoa, a classmate of Cabrera's at Franklin. "He was so humble, he was a gentle giant."

While he was a star on the diamond at Franklin, his greatest athletic accomplishments would come on the gridiron at UCLA.

As a three-year starter, Cabrera anchored the offensive line that protected future NFL quarterback Cade McNown. The 1998 Bruins squad won the Pacific-10 title and went on to play in the Rose Bowl.

A memorial fund has been established to help pay for Cabrera's funeral expenses. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Well Fargo Bank, Account #9765354981.