Coach Lickert cancelled practice yesterday and took the entire team over to the Kramer's to show their respect and support for the family. That may have been his most valauable coaching lesson ever. Class guy running a class program. Thoughts and prayers out to the entire Campbell County community.

 

Well done Coach!!!!!!!!

Fundraiser honors memory of TMC's Kramer

 

August is going to be a difficult month for the Kramer family. So, they want to end July on a positive note.

 

On July 30, the family will host a fundraiser in honor of Mitch Kramer, the Campbell County High School graduate and Thomas More College football player who died in an all-terrain vehicle accident last August. He would have celebrated his 22nd birthday on Aug. 2.

 

“We want to do something good and fun in Mitchell’s name so his family and friends can get together and remember him, rather than just be sad,” said his sister, Paige Kramer. “For our family, it’s good to get happiness from what is going to be a very hard month.”

 

Paige is organizing the event with the help of family and friends. There will be a cornhole tournament, live music, hourly split-the-pot drawings, food and drinks. The event begins at 7 p.m. at Jolly Plumbing in Wilder. Tickets are $20 and include appetizers and drinks. An additional $5 gains entrance to the cornhole tournament. The family is still collecting gifts, memorabilia and other items for raffle baskets and a silent auction.

 

The other main goal, in addition to bringing together Mitch’s family and friends, is to raise money to support scholarships in his name. There is already one set up at Thomas More and the family hopes to raise enough money to support a scholarship at Campbell County. There were smaller fundraisers last year, but there was not much time to plan for them as everything happened so quickly, said Kramer. This is the first of what the family hopes is an annual event and reunion to support the Mitchell Kramer Scholarship Fund.

 

“Mitch’s coaches and teammates have promised that Mitch’s memory will live on as long as they’re there. But, eventually, those coaches will move on and the players who played with Mitch will graduate,” said Kramer. “We want to make sure that, no matter what, he will always be a part of Thomas More. That’s really important to our family.”

 

Plenty of Mitch’s Saints teammates will be on hand and have helped throughout the process. Ian Gunn, a graphic design major who graduated in the spring, designed the flyer for the event. He was one of Kramer’s fellow defensive backs and also designed the “Fly High” logo with Kramer’s uniform number that was worn by Saints players, coaches, and fans last season.

 

“Any kind of event like this always helps people remember the legacy Mitch left behind. I think a yearly fundraiser is one of the best ways to keep all of the people who Mitch touched coming back and getting together, with one common goal: to celebrate Mitch’s life,” said Gunn. “Mitch’s memory lives on every day through the people he knew and his friends and family; that will never go away, fundraiser or not. But, the event really helps people celebrate his life in a positive way.”

 

The event on July 30 will follow the Thomas More Athletic golf outing and dinner earlier that day. The Saints will open football training camp the following week. Mitch will be on everyone’s minds, as he has been for the past 11 months.

 

“Last year, we united as a team because of Mitch. He would be a senior and a leader this year,” said Saints junior defensive back Johnny Lammers. “We still feel his presence every day and will work hard to continue to honor him this upcoming season. This event is one more way to keep his memory alive.”

Fly High, Mitch

 

Kramer's TMC legacy continues with scholarships

 

Senior Day at Thomas More College was bittersweet for the Kramer family.

 

Thanks to the support and generosity of friends, family, and total strangers, the day turned out to be much more sweet than bitter.

 

Mitchell Kramer would have walked out with his family for Senior Day on Oct. 29, the final regular season home game for the Saints football team. He died just before the start of his junior season in August 2015. To honor his memory and preserve his legacy, the Kramer family and Thomas More officially announced the establishment of the Mitchell Kramer Scholarship Fund. The Kramers presented Thomas More College with a $25,000 check; $10,000 of it was donated by BB&T, while the rest was raised by generous donors.

 

“The last 16 months have been so incredibly hard,” said Mitchell’s mother, Kathy Kramer. “We are so happy that we got to get this scholarship in place and his legacy will go on forever.”

 

The family held a fundraiser for the scholarship in July, which it expects to become an annual tradition. Mike Tussey, the Saints football broadcaster, wrote a book chronicling the team’s 2015 season in the wake of Mitch’s death. A portion of the proceeds from his book, “Touchdown Saints” goes to the scholarship fund.

 

The goal is to make this an ongoing scholarship that will still be in place long after Mitch’s former teammates have graduated. The football team has made sure that incoming teammates know about Mitch’s legacy, but the scholarship will ensure that his memory continues to live on long after those who knew him have graduated and moved on.

 

“This will allow us to be able to continue the scholarships and provide opportunity to students pursuing their college dreams,” said Kathy. “Our family still misses Mitch terribly and it’s hard to go through each day without his smiling face and great laugh, but the fact that we are able to award scholarships in his name at TMC makes me know that his legacy will go on. I don’t want anyone to forget him. He really was a great, humble kid and worked hard to get what he wanted. The world would be a lot better place if we could all be like Mitch with his dedication to always work so hard.”

 

The $10,000 donation from BB&T was a complete surprise to the Kramer family.

 

“BB&T's gesture was amazing and we never expected it. It just goes to show the influence Mitch had on so many people's lives and how highly people thought of him,” said his sister, Paige Kramer. “Through losing him, we have met so many people and heard stories from strangers we didn't know, but Mitch did. It's been a blessing to see how he has impacted people even though he's gone.”

 

The money raised at the Fly High event this summer was enough to fund another scholarship, at Campbell County High School. That will be an annual award of $1,000 to a Camels football player to attend a college of his choice. The first recipient was Noah Sell, whose coaches believe that he embodies the hard work and dedication that Mitch always brought to each day. His coaches surprised him with the award at the Camels postseason football banquet.

 

The Thomas More scholarship will be given starting in 2017 to a Campbell County graduate who meets academic requirements and has financial need. The scholarship fund forever links the Kramer family to Thomas More and helps both sides heal while remembering their brother.

 

“My family and I have been overwhelmingly blessed by so many amazing people that are dedicated to helping Mitchell’s memory live on,” said Paige. “Senior Day was an amazing tribute to the other seniors as well as Mitch and we are so extremely grateful that Mitch got us into such an incredible community.”