Austen loved sports, he loved playing sports and he was a gifted athlete. Growing up he played on soccer, baseball and hockey teams in youth and city leagues and for Grosse Pointe High School.

Last night his friend Drew sent me the photos below with this note:

“I wanted to share a picture with you that we took last week.  This summer a group of us Grosse Pointe boys have been playing in the Neighborhood Club softball league.  We are sponsored by the Atwater Brewery in GPP so when Chris Thomas and I went to make our team jerseys we knew we had to add a nice little touch to them.  Each of our jerseys has an ‘AB’ patch on our chest. Austen has been with us all season (and we could really use him!).  We want you to know that he is always with us because he is one of us!”

Top Row (Left to Right):  Matt Reck, Dave Clem, Reid Fragel, Chris Shirar, Kelly O’Donnell Daudlin, Kevin MacConnachie, Alex Parker. Bottow Row: Alex Piku, Chris Thomas, Jimmy Bretz, Pat Pawlowski, Drew Condino.

AB for Austen Brooks. Thank you Team Atwater! Austen is definitely smiling about this. Very touching tribute. Keeping him close. Play ball!