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DAMIAN Howard celebrated all his life gave him - his adoring family, friends and fiancee and the sports he played so passionately.

Today, the 27-year-old Glenreagh boy is being fondly remembered following the car accident which killed him on Friday night.

Damian had earlier been with his mates at Glenreagh's iconic Golden Dog Hotel, where they would regularly meet, and was on his way home on Tallawudjah Creek Road when his Holden Commodore ute left the road, hit a ditch and a fence and came to rest in a paddock.

He was thrown from the car and was found dead underneath it early the next morning by his dad, Michael, who he lived with. Police inquiries into the tragedy continue.

Yesterday, Damian's older brother, Troy, and his mate, Steve Camac, were at the Maclean rugby league match where Damian should have been running on for the Grafton Rhinos' reserves against the Lower Clarence Magpies.

The crowd there observed a minute's silence for the classy utility player ahead of the first-grade kick-off.

Steve told The Advocate Damian was his 'little brother' who he was playing footy with not only this year but on many previous occasions with the Orara Valley Axemen.

“He loved life,” Steve said.

“He was also cheeky and he had a great sense of humour. He was quick-witted and was always ready with a quip - sometimes I had to walk away, he was too good.”

Damian was schooled at Grafton and took up his trade as a wood-machinist at Glenreagh's Coffs Harbour Hardwoods. He did his time there and left to chase jobs elsewhere but he's been back with the company for the past six months.

His rugby league-playing career started with the Grafton Ghosts juniors, followed by the Axemen and most recently the Rhinos. He was also with the Coffs Swans in AFL as well as the Nana Glen Cricket Club.

Details of Damian's funeral service will be announced soon. He's survived by his fiancee, Kiona, his mother, Kerrianne, his father, Michael, and his brothers Troy and Joshua.