Celebrating Drew: Brandi and Tom Guyer keep son's memory alive while helping Wellington sports programs thrive

WELLINGTON — Years from now athletes from Wellington may discover a dust-covered basketball in the corner of their garage or come across a T-shirt with the DG13 logo emblazoned across it at the bottom of a dresser drawer … and smile. Countless sports memories over the past seven years, since the unexpected death of eighth-grader Drew Guyer, have been made possible by the foundation set up by the two-sport standout's parents. Tom and Brandi Guyer have donated nearly $40,000 to Wellington sports groups through the Drew Guyer Memorial Foundation, with the most recent ceremony coming Wednesday night when they gave $1,000 checks to six groups — the high school boys and girls basketball teams, the high school boys and girls soccer teams and the basketball and soccer youth teams. "We always title whatever it is we're doing 'The Drew Guyer Celebration' so we most definitely look forward to it, we honor and acknowledge Drew during the event and being able to help our programs in the community in his name … I can't describe the feeling," Brandi said. "It's bittersweet to say the least, but there's a huge sense of pride and we absolutely enjoy doing it. We hate the fact that we're able to do it, but we enjoy doing it." Guyer played multiple sports growing up but fell in love with basketball and soccer. He played a basketball game for McCormick Middle School against Keystone on Dec. 17, 2013, then headed to a soccer open gym, where he collapsed near the end of the session. "His coronary artery just collapsed," Brandi said. "The doctor said it could not have been detected. He had just had a physical a few weeks before. He said that it is something that unfortunately is detected through an autopsy." The current Dukes varsity basketball coaches — Dan Gundert on the boys side and Nate Morris on the girls — were close to Guyer. Gundert was his third-grade teacher the same year Guyer began serving as a Dukes ball boy when Morris was the varsity boys coach. Gundert eventually took over the varsity program and Morris coached Guyer's eighth-grade team. "The worst day of school ever," Morris said of the day following Guyer's death. "I was over here at the high school but went over to the middle school to be with the team and it was … not a great day." The giving back began within hours. Drew Guyer was an organ donor. "He donated his corneas, his connective tissues — we have heard of six recipients," Brandi said. "Both of his corneas were received, his pulmonary artery went to an eight-month-old boy in Missouri, three males between the ages of 16 and 51 received connective tissue. Drew, as of last fall, was still in the LifeBank federal brochure teaching about organ donations." The Guyers wanted to keep the charity going after their son's death, giving money to the high school and its basketball and soccer programs, the middle school, Wellington's youth soccer and basketball associations and recently setting up scholar-athlete scholarship awards. "They do a really good job of finding ways to keep his name alive," Gundert said. "The youth is a big thing for them. They want all the kids to have the opportunities that Drew had. The sound system in the high school gym was a donation of the Drew Guyer Memorial Foundation, the scorer's table at the high school, also from the foundation, locker room chairs, uniforms, jerseys, boys and girls soccer nets. "Now his dad is an assistant coach on my staff and does a great job, which I know can't be easy for him. Brandi and Tom, just the strength that they show is truly amazing in our community." The Guyers organize an annual golf outing every year to help raise money for the foundation — except a couple years ago, which would have been Drew's graduation year. "They decided to do duck races because his favorite animal was a duck," Gundert said, referring to the popular Night at the Races fundraiser. "So instead of horse races they did duck races, and that was really cool." The family also recently began sponsoring a youth basketball camp for boys and girls between third and eighth grades. "I think it's something they are looking to do every year," Morris said. "Every kid got to go for free, got a T-shirt and a basketball as well as a week's worth of instruction through the foundation. We had close to 100 kids participating … it was just awesome." The camp T-shirts had the DG13 logo on the front — the letter G being made with the numerals 1 and 3. "Two of his friends came up with that for us a few years ago," Brandi said. "The blue is the G with a maroon 13 outlined around it. Blue was always Drew's favorite color and maroon is for Wellington." "Brandi's from Kansas, went to the University of Kansas, and Drew was a huge Jayhawks fan, so that's where the blue comes from," Gundert said. "We still try to honor that as much as we can." Wednesday night's ceremony took place at Wellington Community Park near Guyer's memorial, which includes a blue bench, a massive rock and walkway stones that friends and family purchased. The Dukes basketball team plays a game every season in Guyer's honor, with Tom and Brandi presenting the game ball before tipoff. It's clear the city of Wellington will not forget Drew Guyer, but instead celebrate his memory often throughout the year. "You'll just see all the time, kids walking through town with 13 on their back or the logo on their shirt … and, to me, that's really cool," Gundert said. Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.