Some of you know me personally and know the story of my family over the past few years. For those that don't, we lost my brother Matthew to leukemia in May of 2005. He was only 25 and was the youngest of four that my mom and dad sent to Stillwater.
That summer we decided to convert the van my parents used to take us on family vacations when we were kids into a "tailgating van". Looking back it was probably therapy in a way. Gave us something to think about other than what had just happened and allowed us to spend time together.
About halfway through the 2006 season a reporter from the DOK stopped by to ask us about the van. We told her about my brother, the history of the van and how we had made it a family project the prior summer. The story made the paper the next day.
A few weeks later at the Bedlam game I walked up to our tailgate and saw a lady I did not recognize speaking with my mother. I made the assumption it was someone from the OSU Foundation because our family had endowed a scholarship in memory of my brother and the staff stopped by from time-to-time to say hello. My mom motioned me over and introduced me to our visitor - "This is Coach Gundy's wife, Kristen".
She said that her and Mike read the story in the paper earlier in the season and were very touched by it. She even mentioned that they couldn't imagine losing one of their sons. She went on to say they had tried to catch us after a previous game but that we had already left. She apologized for Mike not being with her that day but they wanted to make sure they caught us this Saturday and she decided to come by before the game.
She presented my mom and dad with a football signed by Mike. It read in part "In Honor of Matthew". There were a few hugs and even some tears - a very touching moment that can't be appropriately captured in anything I would write here.
Just something I have debated on sharing for a while now but thought today would be a good day to do so.
That summer we decided to convert the van my parents used to take us on family vacations when we were kids into a "tailgating van". Looking back it was probably therapy in a way. Gave us something to think about other than what had just happened and allowed us to spend time together.
About halfway through the 2006 season a reporter from the DOK stopped by to ask us about the van. We told her about my brother, the history of the van and how we had made it a family project the prior summer. The story made the paper the next day.
A few weeks later at the Bedlam game I walked up to our tailgate and saw a lady I did not recognize speaking with my mother. I made the assumption it was someone from the OSU Foundation because our family had endowed a scholarship in memory of my brother and the staff stopped by from time-to-time to say hello. My mom motioned me over and introduced me to our visitor - "This is Coach Gundy's wife, Kristen".
She said that her and Mike read the story in the paper earlier in the season and were very touched by it. She even mentioned that they couldn't imagine losing one of their sons. She went on to say they had tried to catch us after a previous game but that we had already left. She apologized for Mike not being with her that day but they wanted to make sure they caught us this Saturday and she decided to come by before the game.
She presented my mom and dad with a football signed by Mike. It read in part "In Honor of Matthew". There were a few hugs and even some tears - a very touching moment that can't be appropriately captured in anything I would write here.
Just something I have debated on sharing for a while now but thought today would be a good day to do so.
