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Who was Drew Lawrence?
April 9, 2006 --
Remembering Drew
Memorial youth baseball tournament in Collierville recalls a wonderful life that ended too early
By Chris Gadd
Contact
April 7, 2006
Every practice, each game and all season the Collierville Dragons pass the Drew Lawrence plaque.
They step under the lights he made possible but will never see, and onto the grass that bears his name.
The name will be everywhere this weekend in Collierville while the seventh annual Drew Lawrence Memorial Tournament is held at Powell Road Park from Friday to Sunday.
Youth baseball teams -- 35 total, ages 8 to 14 -- from around the area will participate. Tournament T-shirts, each adorned with the new tourney design created by an art student at Collierville High, will be sold. And when those out-of-town teams return home, the Drew Lawrence name will return with them.
"To the younger people, it's just a name to them," said Rob Bullough, Drew's Collierville junior varsity coach (Drew never played varsity). "It's not just a name on a T-shirt."
Betsy Friedl, Drew's mother, is always glad to talk of the young man behind the name. She does annually at the Dragon baseball banquet, where she awards the Drew Lawrence Memorial Scholarship and reminds a new generation of Dragon players about his legacy.
"He filled our heads with laughter," said Friedl at the 2005 banquet, "and hearts with love."
Drew died of injuries suffered in a car crash two weeks after the truck he was riding in ran off a bridge and flipped over on him.
At the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, Friedl said "hordes and hordes" of students, teachers and parents showed up daily.
"The baseball community and the Collierville community was wonderful," Friedl said. "After he died, I felt very embraced by that group."
She received cards and letters for months, often from those she didn't know, including other mothers.
"They said 'I thought of you today. It's the start of a new school year. You don't know me,'" Friedl said. "And lots of stuff like that which reiterate why Collierville is special."
She said there were nearly 1,000 people at the funeral.
"I remember looking around the church thinking, 'I had no idea how many lives he had touched,'" Friedl said.
The day he died, Friedl decided she was going to create the scholarship, and donate money for much-needed new field and lights. She had taken out a $50,000 life insurance policy a year before.
Now, she wanted him to live on through baseball.
Drew had a strong work ethic, humor, teamwork, and a realistic, down-to-Earth demeanor, enabling him to keep even his baseball passion in perspective.
"He was the kid who went into the dugout when you were mad or upset or having a slump who made you laugh," Friedl said. "I think that's what his teammates admired about him. He was very liked. He was funny."
"Drew was a great kid," said Bullough, who coached Drew through a season. "He was excited to be there. He loved baseball. He wanted to do everything he could to get better."
That team won a district and region title.
Older brother Clark, a 1999 Collierville graduate, paved the way for Friedl's heavy involvement in baseball, including a year stint as booster club president.
The brothers, including brother Tyler, enjoyed all kinds of sports. But they loved baseball.
"(Drew) probably started things earlier than his brother because he was the little brother," Friedl said. "He was in a hurry.
"Though he loved (baseball), it was a game. And there was a tomorrow."
And Drew's tomorrow continues today. After he died, the booster club voted to rename the Dragon Classic in Drew's name.
"They asked if that was OK with me, and I said 'Lord, yes,'" Friedl said. "What better way to honor his memory."
The field dedication happened during the 2002 season. There were speeches and tears. And there were lights.
"I said I want that money to go towards the lights, that way Drew's light will shine," Friedl said.
Every year, one of Drew's relatives throw out the first pitch at the tournament. Friedl's dad, Robert Halfacre, was the first.
This year, 8-year-old niece Mary Lennox Halfacre, who is starting her first year of softball, will have the honor.
Drew loved the game, but also loved the town.
"He told me once, when he was 10 years old, to be sure and bury him in Collierville," Freidl said. "He was strictly Collierville."
And now, when Betsy looks at the field named after her son on Frank Road and then turns the corner onto Byhalia Road, she knows she has done so figuratively as well.
"When this was done, I think I kind of turned a corner in my grief," Friedl said. "It was like, 'OK Drew. I have done all I can do and you will be remembered and you forever will be a part of the team.'"
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2006 CYAA Baseball Info
October 18, 2005 --
Click on the link to read...to return to the Reds page, click your BACK button.
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Way to Go!!!
November 15, 2005 --
Congratulations to all the boys for an outstanding effort in the MIFA Thanksgiving Benefit tournament this past weekend! The Reds went 3-2 over the weekend, culminating in a 2nd place finish overall in the 9 year old division.
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