NEWARK, Ohio (WCMH) — Friday night inside the Newark Catholic gym the energy was palpable as Newark Catholic and Berne Union tipped off in the District IV boys basketball final. If you closed your eyes, and just listened, it truly felt like any playoff game from years past: cheering, clapping, loud music pulsating throughout the space. 

But with eyes open, there were two details that made it clear this year is different: the face masks in the stands, and a black band on each of the Green Wave players’ uniforms with two white letters: BH.

“Brady has inspired us all and given us something bigger to play for,” Green Wave head coach Nate Adams said. 

Brady Hempleman was a seventh-grader at St. Francis de Sales Elementary in Newark. He had looked forward to eventually following in his family’s footsteps and being a part of the Green Wave tradition. 

“The youth camps are big, you know, whether it’s football, basketball, and, you know, Brady was always one of those kids that was there every day, giving it everything he had,” Adams remembers fondly. “He was never the biggest by any stretch of the imagination, but he was probably one of the best competitors we always had at every sport.”

On Feb. 4, Brady and his dad, Jeff, were driving home from a basketball tournament on Ohio 161. They were in a car accident, and 12-year-old Brady died. Jeff survived, but has undergone multiple surgeries. 

“It was pretty hard, shocking, I mean I grew up with him,” said Newark Catholic senior Matthew Gialdini about hearing the news. “They grew up right across the street from me. I was over there pretty much every day in the summer playing whiffle ball with him all the time, playing baseball. Yeah, he was just always a really positive kid: loved playing baseball, always happy, not really negative. Just a great kid.”

It didn’t take long for the entire Newark community to jump into action and help the Hempleman family. 

“Our community, I would like to say Newark Catholic but really all of Licking County – the support that poured out from our biggest rivals on the field or court, you know, they were there to hold moments of silence and talk,” said Adams, who is a Newark Catholic graduate himself. “I think that’s when communities step up the most. You really appreciate where you come from.”

The Green Wave basketball team wanted to show how much they’ve appreciated the Hempleman’s support over the years by playing the rest of the season for Brady.

“We have a relationship with Dush Graphix here in town,” Adams explained. “So I just reached out to them to see if we could get some shooting shirts for the guys, just as something to do and unbeknownst to us, Dush just donated all of them.”

“We wear the patches so we always have him right here with us,” Gialdini said, tapping his chest just above his heart, “and we just leave it all on the court for him.”

On Friday night, the Green Wave felt the energy from the cheering, the clapping and the music playing, but also, they felt the passion that Brady has lit from within them.

Newark Catholic beat Berne Union 72-46, clinching the program’s first district title since 2012. The team cut down the nets in the gym, and then made a field trip. 

“They cut a piece of the net off the district trophy and we had about 10 guys go to their house after the game and give it to the [Hempleman] family,” Adams said. 

“It just gives us a lot bigger of a goal. It’s a lot more than basketball,” Gialdini said. “Just live life with that passion, the kindness, just the joy he lived life with. You know, I think everybody could take a couple pages out of Brady’s book for sure.”