Shaun Wild was a graduate of North Central College and that's where the vigil was held Saturday night, and where the Wild family was comforted by an entire school community.
"I know you guys lost a son, said Wild's teammate Manny Juarez. "But I promise that you guys just gained an entire campus family that's going to back you up."
Hundreds gathered at the college to honor wild, who was a former punter on the school's football team.
"It was just unbelievable how we were able to just hit it off immediately, said teammate Steve Hlavac. "I could immediately talk to him about anything. It was an obvious sign from god, you know.
It was shortly before 1 a.m. when the 24-year-old Wild was stabbed in the chest at Frankie's Blue Room in downtown Naperville.
Two others were also stabbed, a bar employee, who was treated and released from Edwards Hospital, and a college teammate of Wild's, William Hayes.
At the scene, police arrested 27-year-old Daniel Olaska of Naperville.
"It's way too soon for any of us to say what happened," said Naperville city councilman Bob Fieseler. "I want you to know we're going to bring to bear any of the resources that you all think you need to make things right, to make things better."
Wild graduated from the college last spring and was a first-year teacher at Naperville's Spring Brook Elementary.
In his teacher's bio, Wild wrote, "a couple of male teachers influenced me for good at a critical time, and I want to do the same for others."
"Please pray for his little second graders and their families," said North Central College's Maureen Kincade.
Authorities haven't commented on a motive, but witnesses say it appeared Hayes was stabbed first and Wild was fatally wounded while trying to intervene.
"A teammate in every sense of that word, already a great teacher, killed in a senseless tragedy," said North Central College President Hal Wilde.