The Fresno Grizzlies are pitching in to raise money to remember a star athlete whose life was cut short.
Deondre “Day Day” Howard played baseball and football for the Edison High School Tigers and Fresno City College.
“He had this incredible heart, I mean he was small in stature but his heart was maybe as big as any player I’ve ever coached. I mean he competed, he showed up every day, he worked hard – and he never missed a game.”
Edison High Baseball Coach Cliff Rold said Howard just did incredible things.
“I really like to look at Deondre more from ah, human perspective, see because Deondre was a young man that ah, he played baseball in the summertime with the Central Cal Baseball Academy, and so his life really had a real large cultural spectrum.” – Baseball Coach Clifff Rold, Edison High School.
But the star athlete’s life ended –when he was gunned down last august in Northwest Fresno.
Now, money is being raised to honor him
“With the Grizzlies, along with some of the business leaders here in the community, we are going to have a monument with a placard in recognition for his exploits in baseball as well as football.”
The Fresno Grizzlies will be donating part of the proceeds from its upcoming 55th Anniversary Hot Stove Gala to the Deondre “Day Day” Howard memorial fund, which will help finance a memorial for the recently deceased athlete.
The 55th Anniversary Hot Stove Gala is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016 at 5 p.m. in the Fresno Convention Center’s New Exhibit Hall in Downtown Fresno.
Edison High School will also be accepting funds for the Dondre “Day Day” Howard Memorial.
