Clay Faulkner loved baseball. He played in high school and on several travel teams, and this Saturday, friends and family will take to the fields at Aycock Recreation Complex to remember the young man with the infectious smile who touched so many lives.
Susan Patterson, Clay’s mother, said it was actually one of her son’s friends who first had the idea of playing a baseball game in memory of Clay.
“It started out to be just a little baseball game,” Patterson told John C. Rose on Town Talk Wednesday. “We ended up with six teams.” She said she’s expecting about 70 players for Saturday’s games.
“I’m blown away by that number,” she said, adding that the interest in participating has been a humbling experience.
Anyone who wants to come to watch the games on Saturday, which are scheduled to begin around 9:30 a.m., will see Clay’s friends round the bases where Clay spent a lot of time in the years that he played ball. Patterson said she just hopes everybody has a good time, in memory of Clay.
His friends, she said, are the reason she and other family members “are still ok.” They showed up for us, she said, after Clay’s death, and she said she hopes that folks do the same on Saturday – just show up at Aycock Rec Complex and enjoy some baseball. “I don’t think I could ever give back what they have given us,” she added. Stories that Clay’s friends have shared with her are precious gifts, she said.
Clay, who died just more than a year ago, really didn’t like being the center of attention, his mother said, adding that he was more interested in doing for others. “He loved everybody and he loved his sport,” she said. He was good at it and he really applied himself to being the best he could be.
He also was a valuable team member at the local Chick-fil-a, and customers remember a polite young man with that incredible smile.
That smile he flashed sometimes meant he’d been up to something, Patterson said.
His smile sometimes got him into trouble, and a lot of times it got him out of trouble. “He was always up to some mischief,” she said.
Patterson said the games Saturday will be one more way for friends and family to remember her son. “I’ve heard several of his friends say that they are very excited to be a part of this,” she said.
“One of the things since he’s been gone that I’ve been afraid of is that people will forget,” Patterson acknowledged. “Just knowing that people haven’t forgotten – knowing that people are still treasuring the memories they have of him – is so special.”
Players should arrive at 9 a.m. at Aycock Recreation Complex. Games will start about 9:30 a.m.
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