Sports

GSW:Memory of Bozof to live on

• Evan Bozof, the former Georgia Southwestern baseball star who died 10 years ago today, has a scholarship created by the university in his honor.

Scott Chancey

AMERICUS - Lynn Bozof still can't decide if her son Evan's best pitch was a simple fastball or forkball.

His brother and father, however, think it's a forkball, hands down.

"I know he loved his forkball," Evan's father, Alan, said. "When he was pitching his best at Georgia Southwestern ... they talked about his forkball more than anything because the bottom just dropped out of it."

The GSW pitcher's mound was where Evan's passion was. It's where, after moving from Marietta and earning a baseball scholarship to play for the Hurricanes, he studied to be a doctor and cultivated the forkball that both impressed and intrigued teammates.

That same pitcher's mound is his final resting place.

During Evan's junior season in 1998, he contracted meningococcal meningitis and - after a 26-day battle - died at the age of 20.

And today marks 10 years since his passing.

Meningococcal meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges (membranes covering the brain and spinal cord) due to infection with a certain bacteria.

After his death, Evan's memorial was held at the baseball field and his ashes were scattered along the mound, a little bit by each teammate.

A good-bye as heart-felt as it was team-oriented was something Alan thought would be perfect to honor his memory.

"I felt that would help memorialize him," Bozof's father said. "He loved pitching and Georgia Southwestern, and just had a great work ethic and he was very bright. I thought it was a way to keep him ever-present at the school."

Evan's No. 17 jersey is retired and framed in the school's athletic department, and a seat in both the baseball and softball complexes honor his memory. His team's outfield fence also memorializes him, and his family has donated trees and benches in his memory that are located near the school's James Earl Carter Library.

The most recent effort to keep Evan's memory alive is an endowed scholarship fund that will honor its first recipient next year.

"It's just touching I think for me and my whole family that they're still thinking about him and want to keep his memory alive," Evan's brother, Ryan, said. "It was such a difficult time for us, but Georgia Southwestern seemed to be the most enjoyable time of his life. It makes us feel so good that they want to do that for him."

GSW athletics booster club president-elect Ryan Young, who was one of Evan's teammates, thought of the scholarship idea and could not envision a more fitting tribute.

"He was always caring for people," said Young, who added that the criteria for earning the scholarship is still being contemplated. "I know he would appreciate it. And this scholarship is going to help folks with finances through college, and it also creates more awareness about the disease of meningitis and he'd be for that. He was a premed student and he cared enough about people to want to do that."

Evan's family was more than receptive to the idea.

"When (Ryan Young) called and asked if he could set up a fund, of course we were really, really honored," Lynn said. "It's a nice way to honor his memory. He was a very good student, and even tutored a lot of the players. We didn't know that until after he died."

The heartbreak of Evan's family was compounded when it realized his form of meningitis could have been prevented by vaccination. Evan's mother, vowing to raise awareness of meningitis, became a founding director and is now executive director of the National Meningitis Association (www.nmaus.org), for which she was in Orlando, Fla., on Friday for its annual convention.

"We're just trying to make sure this doesn't happen to other families," she said.

Evan's legacy also is being continued in another way. Ryan Bozof has completed medical school and will soon finish his residency, planning to work at Emory University Hospital. While planning to work in the medical profession, he doesn't forget his late brother's wish to do the same thing.

"It was kind of a dream of both of ours to be a doctor," Ryan began, "and now that's he's passed away, I just wanted to do that for both of us, to keep our dream alive."

Lynn said her family has visited Georgia Southwestern's field since their son's death, but not for a ball game. Even now, while a scholarship is in her son's name, the pain of losing one of her own is a day-to-day struggle.

"It's very bittersweet," she said. "I still want to see my son out there pitching. I still want to see his smile. We just miss him so much. We're happy his memory will be carried on at the school."

NOTE: Those wishing to donate to Evan's scholarship fund can call (229) 931-2014.

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