Sawyer Evans was a very special boy who passed away on August 15, 2001. He was nine years old. He had a ready smile for everybody and was a very happy child in spite of his frequent hospitalizations. Sawyer had a heart transplant from which he never recovered. He had had protein losing enteropathy (PLE) for many years and his little body couldn't seem to handle all of the changes it was going through after the heart transplant.
Sawyer's story was chronicled on television. Reporters were so excited when he got his heart and followed his progress closely. When Sawyer passed away, a whole town mourned. One of the people to be affected by Sawyer's death was his baseball coach. On the day Sawyer died, Coach Johnny Belew wrote a beautiful tribute to one of his favorite players... Anna.
The Indians were in the losers' bracket of the league tournament, so our next
loss would pretty much finish the season for us. Sawyer was playing second
base that night, even though he hadn't been feeling too well for the
past few days.
He got up to bat and ripped a hard shot through the infield for a stand up
double. So there stood Sawyer on second base as the go-ahead run that could
win the game. Our third base coach got his attention and asked him if he could
make it all the way home. Sawyer answered with a thumbs up.
The next batter got a good hit and Sawyer never slowed down as he rounded third
and headed for home, scoring the winning run and putting us in the title game.
He made it to the dugout before he collapsed.
Suddenly winning the ball game didn't seem all that important as our team
watched Sawyer's mother carry him out of the dugout and off the field.
As the game progressed, it became obvious that the Braves were just too
much for us -- that is, until Sawyer arrived. I think I saw him first, looking
so pale and fragile. I quickly called our team's attention to his presence and
that was all it took.
The Braves didn't know what hit them as we went on to win the first game. The
fact that we lost the next one really doesn't matter. What matters is that for
one brief, shining moment, our team came together and played better than we
thought possible -- because a blond-headed, little boy named Sawyer was in the
stands cheering us on.
I'll never forget the time where Sawyer's run won the game for us. He made
it safely home for us that night and this morning he is safe at Home again. I
feel lucky to have known him and privileged to have coached him.
Sawyer was easily one of the most consistent batters on our team. He never
hit the ball all that far, but you could count on him to hit the ball just
about every time. All year long we had been holding him at first base since he
just didn't have enough speed to make it to second. But on this night, Sawyer
would surprise us.
© 2001 by Kerri Evans
reprinted with permission from Kerri Evans
I wish everyone could have seen Sawyer play ball. He had more spirit and
enthusiasm than just about anyone else on the team. To me, he will always be a
sterling example of what little kids and sports should be about.
© 2001 by Kerri Evans
reprinted with permission from Kerri Evans
A couple of days passed and we received word that Sawyer was a little better,
but would not be able to play in the title game against the Braves. The Braves
. . . man, did we want to beat those guys! They came into the title game
unbeaten in both regular season and tournament play.
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