By Taylor Nigrelli
Sports Editor
Often, when tragedy strikes, those afflicted mobilize and find some way to draw an iota of good from the situation.
Sunday, a group of students will host a memorial dodgeball tournament in honor of senior baseball player Andrew Revello. The Mayfield, Ohio native died from complications stemming from a July car accident.
Teams are made up of 10 members, and each team will pay $30 to enter. The money raised will be donated to the Andrew Revello Scholarship Fund.
Generally, memorial scholarships are given to students who possess the traits of the scholarship’s namesake. According to Revello’s teammates, anyone who wishes to earn this scholarship has a lot to live up to.
“He was one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen,” said senior outfielder Brian Weightman. “(The scholarship) will probably go to someone who’s hard-working, determined and is genuinely a good person.”
Senior pitcher Asa Johnson agreed with Weightman’s assessment and added compassion as a necessary virtue.
“Hardworking, but also caring,” Johnson said. “Even if he didn’t know you, he was friendly to you. He’d always give you a hand if you needed it. (He was) just an all-around caring person.”
All members of the baseball team, divided into three different teams, will participate in Sunday’s tournament. The event gives the team an opportunity to reflect on their loss.
“It just changes how you go about things,” Johnson said. “It goes to prove you can’t take anything for granted; any minute it can be taken away from you. It showed me, like playing baseball, it’s a gift and blessing to be able to do that. It just puts it into perspective.”
The team also hopes the event will help further advance the healing process.
“It’s always a tough thing,” Weightman said. “I mean, being together to help each other get through it is really big. Us being together is helping a lot.”
“Being a team and going through it together makes it easier for everyone,” senior first baseman Justin Brozick said. “It’s a tough time, so it’s nice to have someone to lean on or talk to.”
When the baseball team takes the field this spring, they will be without a pitcher, a leader and a friend. Revello’s teammates know his loss will be both tangible and intangible.
“On the field, he was a tremendous pitcher,” Johnson said. “But, also, leadership qualities too. He was a hardworker. He was the kind of kid where you saw him working hard, and it made you want to work hard. We’re going to lose a lot of leadership.”
Some of Revello’s teammates struggled to explain how detrimental his absence will be.
“He was also a captain,” Brozick said. “It’s just hard to put into words how much we’re actually losing.”
Revello wasn’t just known for being a talented pitcher or a veteran leader. His peers regard him as one of the friendliest and most engaging people they encountered at St. Bonaventure.
Senior tournament organizer Juliana Stefani said most of the people involved with putting the event together didn’t know Revello well; they knew of him because of his outgoing nature.
“I didn’t know him personally,” Stefani said. “He was just so friendly to everyone on campus, so everyone knew who he was.”
Johnson was not surprised when he found out people who didn’t know Revello very well would feel compelled to help out in some manner.
“That’s just the kind of kid he was,” Johnson said. “Even if you didn’t know him very well, he was just the kind of kid you always want to be around. He was always very friendly, even if you didn’t know him personally.”
Fewer than 2,000 undergraduate students attend St. Bonaventure. Thus, it’s nearly impossible to avoid contact with someone over a three-year period, especially someone who was purported to be as sociable as Revello.
Perhaps this unavoidable closeness lends to a greater positive response to tragedy than would normally be the case.
Johnson spent three years playing baseball with Revello; he knows this to be the case.
“It’s just kind of how St. Bonaventure works,” Johnson said. “It’s close-knit; everyone’s a family.”
