After his friend and fellow performer died this month, Jamaal Bethea hopes to keep his legacy alive.

Earlier this month, Fresno State sophomore Omar Nemeth died from an apparent drug overdose after spending the night at the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house. Nemeth was not a member of the fraternity, according to the organization’s national headquarters.

Recently, Fresno State President Dr. Joseph Castro said there are no plans to punish the fraternity. Even Fresno police, in a news conference after Nemeth’s death, said there were no pending criminal charges in connection with Nemeth’s death, which was considered an accidental overdose on Xanax pills.

Fresno police said the exact cause of death would not be known until an autopsy is performed and toxicology reports are finalized.

Bethea said he met Nemeth in 2014 when they were both part of the rap group Higher Class and toured the state.

“[He was] just starting out,” Bethea said. “He was motivated and very hardworking.”

Bethea called Nemeth a “16-year-old genius” who wanted to excel as an artist. He recalled during their tour that the audience memorized Nemeth’s lyrics word for word — something that didn’t happen to other performers in the group.

After the tour, the group members went their separate ways. That’s when Bethea’s relationship with Nemeth began fading. But though they lost touch, Bethea said he always knew Nemeth was using his musical talents to shine a spotlight on a social cause he felt strongly about — the very cause that likely took his life.

“He wanted to use the music and the money from it as a vehicle to further his biochemistry studies to cure addiction,” Bethea said.

By all accounts, Nemeth was enthusiastic about his future and always shared his plans with others. But after he began college, Bethea said, Nemeth began associating with people who were affiliated with the drug culture.

In Bethea’s eyes, Nemeth never seemed to fit in.

“They didn’t have as much integrity, dreams or goals as him,” Bethea said.

He said he expected Nemeth would eventually move away from that lifestyle. It must have been a phase, he thought.

“He was very quiet, very reserved, very observant,” Bethea said. “He was extremely intelligent for his age.”

But Nemeth, at 19, had his life cut short. He had decided to spend the night at the fraternity house. At about 1 p.m. Jan. 3, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said, Nemeth’s girlfriend left the fraternity house. Nemeth’s younger brother realized Nemeth was unconscious and began screaming for help.

Three other fraternity brothers began doing CPR, according to Dyer.

An ambulance was never called, according to police, and instead Nemeth was driven to Saint Agnes Medical Center by a friend. Nemeth died around 2:40 p.m.

It was a difficult reality for Bethea, whose birthday was also on Jan. 3. He said he holds guilt for not reaching out to Nemeth before it was too late.

“I felt like I could have made that difference,” Bethea said.

While Bethea’s left to wonder what more he could have done for his friend, there is a community at Fresno State aiming to step in before it’s too late for others.

A group of students are expected to take part in a planned drug awareness walk on Jan. 20. It will begin at the Free Speech Area on the university campus at 9 a.m.

And the Fresno State Student Health and Counseling Center, in a statement to The Collegian, said it is committed to help students recover from addiction and substance abuse issues, too.

The center offers a program called Bulldogs for Recovery. The goal: be “a resource for improved health, wellness and student success.”

It was success that Bethea wished for Nemeth. Now that he is gone, Bethea’s found other ways to still let Nemeth know he has his friend’s support.

Bethea plans to honor Nemeth’s personality through a statue he hopes to bring to campus. He hopes it symbolizes power.
“I don’t want his legacy to be that he was a drug addict. I think that’s a terrible misrepresentation,” he said.

His vision for the statue is to honor Nemeth, but to also serve as a symbol of hope for others, Bethea said.

“It’s going to show [that] he wasn’t a drug addict, he was more than that,” Bethea said. “We want to put it in a place many people can see it, many people can absorb it, many people can reflect on it, as well.”

For those plans, Bethea said, he hopes to raise $40,000 by using music, the craft that he and Nemeth bonded over.

The proceeds from “Miracles,” a song he produced, will go toward the funds for the statue, Bethea told The Collegian recently. The song was originally written for women’s empowerment, but Bethea now believes the message resonates with the spirit of Nemeth. The song can be streamed at godrythm.bandcamp.com.

He also plans to film a portion of the music video in front of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house.

“The song is here to express that anything is possible through love of self,” Bethea said. “Anybody can take a piece of positivity from this [song].”

He said that Nemeth was very passionate in making his dreams a reality. And maybe the song can create a campus conversation on substance abuse and its effect on society, Bethea said.

“I was always told, ‘Watch who I look up to,’ because that’s who I’ll be under and I don’t mind looking up to [Nemeth] in his life or in his death,” Bethea said.