Fallen Heroes’ Night
September 19, 2022
This year’s Fallen Heroes Night was Friday the 16th. Grand Ledge’s varsity team faced off against Waverly’s varsity team and won, the score being 37 for GL and 20 for Waverly. At the end of the night, the GL players honored their fallen heroes.
Fallen Heroes’ Night is an important night for a lot of people. It’s a tradition that is very well known in The Grand Ledge area and has been done for 11 years. The event is held to honor Michigan Gold Star families, which Coach Joseph Brya states, “…are the families who have lost loved ones in action in service to the United States”.
“This event is very important not only to the families of lost ones but to the players too,” Junior varsity player Sawyer Brockwell shared his opinion on the event.
“I’m very excited for Fallen Heroes [Night]. I’m always excited for it,” said Brockwell. “I love seeing the people come out and watch us play [and] just overall a great way to celebrate and represent our heroes,”.
Brockwell also shared who the fallen hero he had for the game was. The coaches assign each player a fallen hero each year to honor them for their sacrifice for their country.
“On my shirt, I have Eric Burrie, ” said Brockwell. “This will be my first time doing it which makes it more exciting”.
Brockwell wasn’t the only one with the same opinion. Coach Joseph Brya shared more of his thoughts.
“Personally, I enjoy giving back to the families and seeing the joy that it brings them to have someone remember their loved one,” said Coach Brya. “I encourage our student body and all of the Grand Ledge community to give a warm welcome to our Gold Star families and remember the tremendous sacrifice that they have made on behalf of all Americans.”
The student store began selling 2022’s Fallen Hero shirt, which is designed by a student every year. This year Senior Morgan Bagneschi designed the shirt for people to wear at the event. “I took last year’s design and added a twist to it and added stars instead of the stripes in between the sentences,” said Bagneschi. “Then, I did a flag on the back which is kinda distressed because last year’s had nothing on the back and we thought it would be cooler to do something.”
“It means a lot to our players to give back to the families and give them a night to celebrate their loved one who has died.” Said, Coach Brya.
