June 10, 2010 (Huntsville, Texas)

Everett Scott “Scotty” Adley was your typical 11 year old boy who loved playing outside.  From skateboarding, football, basketball to lacrosse, he loved it all.  Over the Memorial Day weekend, Scotty was involved in a boating accident and unfortunately did not survive.  After hearing about this from Brian DeSpain (president, 1Lacrosse), Coach Fritts joined the Face Book group “Play For Scotty.”  Sam Houston has a great connection to the Kingwood lacrosse program with Wil Nielsen, Sam Lockett and Nick Williams playing for the Bearkats.  Coach posted his condolences for the family on the group site.

The post he received back from Scott’s father (Scott Aderly) just broke his heart.  It said “Funny you should post. Scotty and I were talking about the possibility of playing lacrosse in college and he said he just didn’t think he could go all the way to the east coast (which of course would change) to play. He said he wanted to play at SHSU because it was close and I could see all the games and that he loved the mascot and colors better than any of the eastern teams too!”

“This just put me over the edge” said Coach Fritts.  “This father just lost a child and then I find out the boy wanted to come to Sam.  I had to do something for this family… for this boy.”  What did Coach do?  With in 24 hours he had paperwork from the Office of Advancement at Sam Houston State creating the “Scotty Adley Memorial Lacrosse Scholarship.” This will be administered by the school with all the regular criteria for a lacrosse scholarship but with one added condition… the recipient player must come from Kingwood, Texas.

The paperwork was signed by Fritts on June 10th and the scholarship will become official when school president, James Gaertner, completes the final signature line.

“His (Scotty’s) story, his love of life… for the sport of lacrosse, just touched me so deeply.  11 years old and he wanted to come play at Sam Houston so his family could see him play along with liking our mascot and school colors… it just ripped me a part.  Can’t repeat it enough, I just had to do something for this boy… for his family” said Fritts.

So the next time you’re tied 12-12 with 30 seconds left to go… and you don’t feel you have the energy left for one more goal… think about Scotty… and “Play For Scotty!”

Donations are also being accepted at Christian School of Kingwood, where Scotty was a student.

Here’s how the lacrosse community can help…

Scotty’s family is asking that donations be made in Scotty’s name to the following:

Christian School of Kingwood (CSK) – Scholarship Fund in the Name of Scotty Adley:
2901 Woodlands Hill Dr.
Kingwood, TX 77339
Attn: Linda Copeland