An opportunity to help.
This is Gary McGraw.
He lives in Gaston, Oregon, and watches high school and college baseball games. In Oregon. And in Idaho. And in Washington State. And in Montana. And in Wyoming. And in Canada. And in Alaska.
He’s spent 26 years in pro ball, the first of which he spent playing in the Idaho Falls A’s outfield alongside 17-year-old Oakland 15th-rounder Jose Canseco, and the last 14 of which he’s spent scouting high school and college ballplayers for the Texas Rangers.
I found a bio on McGraw in which he says: “I have one hobby: my family and anything they are involved or interested in.” He didn’t mention wiffle ball, an apparent passion.
Just family.
This is Keone Kela. He turns 22 years old today.
In 2012, Gary McGraw pounded his fist on the table on Draft Day – Gary was wearing cowboy boots and a sport coat that day, which I know because a number of his colleagues say he’s worn cowboy boots and a sport coat to every meeting he’s ever been to, and that it’s been the same pair of cowboy boots and the same sport coat every single time for more than 20 years – until Texas called Kela’s name in the 12th round.
McGraw looked past Kela’s challenging background and the 91-95 velo he flashed at Everett Community College and believed there was more.
There was.
This is Julie McGraw.
She was an athlete at Portland State University, just like Gary. They were college sweethearts. They got married in 1982, a few months after the summer when Gary hit one Idaho Falls homer, and Canseco hit two.
They’ve been married since, and have three kids, Jamie and Jessica and Jake.
Julie has been a longtime volleyball coach in Oregon, at both the high school and club levels.
Julie had a massive stroke while coaching her club volleyball team at a tournament three months ago. Julie and Gary’s daughter Jessica prefers not to say her Mom “suffered” the stroke, or even “survived” the stroke. Jessica prefers different wording.
The battle has been formidable one – you can read a bit about it by clicking the link in the previous sentence – but the athlete and the coach in Julie has responded and competed and fought, and she’s winning.
There are all kinds of challenges ahead, one of which is financial. The family’s insurance coverage will be exhausted long before Julie’s medical attention and rehabilitation will be, and a GoFundMe account has been set up by friends of the McGraw’s to help the family. Among the things they are hoping to be able to do is modify their home to make it wheelchair-accessible and buy a wheelchair-accessible van, and to secure 24-hour care as long as Julie needs it.
The account has raised over $7,500 in 11 days. The goal is $200,000.
Julie has coached hundreds of kids. Gary has given nearly as many an opportunity to play baseball professionally, and he’s also known for the energy he puts into mentoring young scouts, helping to give them their own chance to advance their careers.
They’ve both given so much to many people – including, in one sense, you and me.
If you’re in a position to give something back, and feel like doing that, it would be an awesome thing.
