A year after his death, Patrick Clegg on minds of friends, family

Photo by Nathan Papes / News-Leader; Published April 18, 2010.

One year after tragedy struck in the mid-Missouri Army town, Waynesville has returned to normal.

Even in Mary Clegg's lively house in nearby St. Robert, there still are people of all ages buzzing around most days.

Most of her grieving over the death of her 16-year-old son, Patrick, is done alone.

Several times a week, Mary Clegg spends time at Patrick's grave in Sunset Memorial Estates Cemetery to feel close to him.


Patrick died in a Springfield hospital on April 23, 2009, two days after he was struck by a pitch during a varsity baseball game at Lebanon High School.

A junior infielder and pitcher for the Waynesville Tigers, Patrick was hit in the brain stem below the batting helmet. His death made national news, generated conversation about safety equipment and prompted the sports world to reach out to Patrick's family. More than 1,000 people attended his funeral.

Tuesday, one day shy of a year since Patrick was struck, the Tigers will play host to Lebanon. No special ceremony is planned, school officials say.

Waynesville High School baseball coach Scott Turner said he has not brought up Patrick's name with the players this season.

"When somebody brings it up, it's always someone from the outside," Turner said.

Patrick has not been forgotten, however.

Mary Clegg is hosting a remembrance ceremony at the cemetery at 3 p.m. Friday. She's inviting the public to attend.

And, coaches in the 10-team Ozark Conference, which features four Springfield schools (Glendale, Hillcrest, Kickapoo, Parkview) and teams from Joplin to Rolla, have set up a scholarship in Patrick's name to be awarded to a senior player, maybe two, from the league, depending on how much money is raised.

Life without Patrick

Waynesville's baseball team won two games last season and has won one so far this year. Turner said his players wanted to play after Patrick's death last season but were not focused.

"Those kids lived through something that no one should ever have to live through," Waynesville athletic director Josh Scott said.

Scott declined to make Tigers players available for interviews.

Del'Von Franklin, a freshman football player at the College of Mount Joseph in Cincinnati, was one of Patrick's best friends. He was on deck when Patrick was struck.

"It's like a brother thing," Franklin said this week. "We are brothers."

Franklin said he and Patrick had planned to get tattoos of their uniform numbers. Instead, Franklin recently had Patrick's No. 27 tattooed on the right side of his back and his own No. 26 on the left.

Franklin won't be able to attend the ceremony Friday at the cemetery.

Patrick's father, Mike Clegg, will not be there, either.

Clegg works in El Paso, Texas, for a roofing company and primarily travels out west for his job. In the past year, he has been home about one week every couple of months.

Mike Clegg and one of his daughters, Andrea, were among more than a dozen people indicted in February, along with several bank executives, in connection with a fraud scheme involving loans through Mid-America Bank and Trust Co.

Mary Clegg said she expects the charges to be dropped soon.

Mike Clegg did not return phone calls for this story.

"In general, we are trying to go forward, but it seems impossible some days," he wrote in an e-mail. "I dread the (anniversary of his death), as I think it will be very tough for everybody."

At the house, the clothes in Patrick's closet are left untouched and his bedroom has been turned into a shrine.

Mary Clegg has not taken down the tacks that held up Christmas lights on the walls of her family room during the 2008 holidays.

"It was one of the times that we had together that I think about all the time," she said, describing Patrick putting up the tacks but often falling off the chair and laughing with his mother throughout a winter evening.

"I really should take these down. I just can't get myself to take these down."

She likes to visit Patrick's room, which she keeps locked up, alone.

"He was not a big hangout kid," she said. "He was a big family kid."

Their relationship also was a friendship, forged in part while Mike Clegg worked as a contractor for eight months in Iraq shortly before Patrick's death.

"I learned a lot about Patrick after the fact," Mary Clegg said of the fifth of her seven children. "He was a really good kid. I didn't realize the impact he had on many people I didn't even know until he was gone."

A page dedicated to Patrick on Facebook was started by Central High School freshman Jake Wadkins. By Friday, it contained more than 1,360 friends.

On the Web site, Jake wrote: "I never even knew him but I'm sure you all did and miss him very much. ... I'm prayin' for him every night even though he's no longer alive."

Signed cards and posters from various local high school teams adorn the walls of Patrick's room.

Family members tore up the carpet and replaced it with artificial turf in honor of his love for baseball. They painted one side St. Louis Blues blue and the other St. Louis Cardinals red in honor of Patrick's favorite hockey and baseball teams.

They also displayed many of the keepsakes donated by area and professional sports teams and figures: Rapper Nelly signed a jersey, as did Keith Tkachuk of the Blues. Scott Rolen, formerly of the Cardinals, signed a jersey. The New York Yankees sent flowers.

Patrick's golf clubs, a scorecard from a shutout he pitched for Waynesville and a poem written by his girlfriend's father on the plane ride to serve in Iraq also are displayed.

"A lot of his friends come down here and we come down here, too," Mary Clegg said.
But she said family gatherings, which Patrick loved maybe more than anything, are not the same without him.

Patrick used to direct sports games out in the yard and play spades with everyone at night.

"Now, nobody ever picks up a deck of cards anymore," his mother said.