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Tragedy brings expression of support from fellow baseball team – CapitalGazette.com
More than a baseball game was on the schedule when the St. Mary’s High School varsity team faced the John Carroll School on Wednesday.
The St. Mary’s team held a pregame tribute for John Carroll sophomore Josh Hamer, a baseball player who died from injuries he suffered in a car accident on March 2, in a show of support for Hamer’s mother, teammates and coaches.
St. Mary’s head baseball coach Johnny Poss first read about Hamer’s death on social media.
“The baseball circle is pretty tight and, when something as tragic as that happens, word tends to spread pretty fast,” Poss said.
Allison Fondale, St. Mary’s athletic director, also learned of the tragedy quickly. Fondale, Poss and assistant athletic director Mike Schmidt, who also coaches the baseball team, consulted with the school’s youth minister, Virginia Dauses, and chaplain, the Rev. Andy Costello. They knew they wanted to do something special to honor Hamer when St. Mary’s played John Carroll at Joe Cannon Stadium in their 2017 MIAA A Conference opener.
“We, as a school, felt like sports bring people together, and we were able to show our support for their community,” Fondale said.
The central part of the tribute was the creation of a T-shirt in Hamer’s memory. The blue shirts bore a St. Mary’s Saints logo on the front and Hamer’s jersey number, 25, on the back, along with his name and the words “Fly High,” a phrase used at Hamer’s memorial service at John Carroll. Poss credited one player’s mother in particular, Kim Nolet, with taking charge of making the T-shirts.
Each St. Mary’s player wore one of these T-shirts during the pregame event, and several shirts were presented to John Carroll’s coaches.
Jennifer Leigh Hamer, Hamer’s mother, attended the game and had no prior knowledge of the tribute that was planned for her son.
“When I walked up (to the field), I immediately saw the boys with those shirts on, and it was just an overwhelming feeling of honor and gratitude,” she said.
Poss presented Hamer’s mother with several T-shirts as well as a Mass card on behalf of St. Mary’s Parish, saying Hamer will be formally remembered at 11 Catholic Masses.
“We’re both Catholic schools, and we certainly need our faith to get through these difficult times,” Fondale said.
Hamer’s mother joined the players on the field, where Costello said a prayer he wrote for Hamer.
“May we all take time, from time to time, to become silent — to remember a kid named Josh,” Costello said in part. “May we look at our lives — how we’re doing, how we’re giving, how we’re trying, how we’re playing this great game called life, no matter how many innings we’re in the game, till we get home to heaven, into God’s loving embrace.”
Hamer’s mother continues to be grateful for the outpouring of affection and support she has received.
“It’s an honor for everyone to be doing this in honor of my baby boy,” she said, “because I knew how much he meant to me and how much I loved him, but I didn’t realize how much everyone else did.”