STAYTON

Hundreds of children get to play sports in memory of fallen Marine Ty Hart

Bill Poehler
Statesman Journal
Trina Hart, the mother of Ty Hart, sits for a photo with some of his sports gear at her home in Aumsville on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. Lance Cpl. Ty Hart was one of 12 Marines who died in 2016 when two military helicopters collided during a training exercise in Hawaii. His family started a scholarship in his name so children and their families can afford to pay for sports equipment or training.

AUMSVILLE – Since the age of 5, playing football has been Zac Fulgham’s passion.

A few years ago, his father, Dillon, was injured in a motorcycle accident and was out of work for six months.

To pay for the football equipment the growing boy needed, the Fulgham family had to make some tough choices, including which bills not to pay.

Fulgham’s family has been acquainted with the family of Ty Hart – the Marine from Aumsville who died in a 2016 helicopter crash – and had been part of the motorcycle procession to the family home from Portland after his body had been returned to Oregon.

A few months after Dillon Fulgham’s accident in 2016, the family drove their car in the first Ty Hart Memorial Poker Ride. During the excursion, someone told Trina Hart – Ty’s mother and president of the foundation – about the Fulgham family situation.

At the final stop of the ride, Trina Hart gave the family money to cover Zac’s football equipment. It came from the Ty Hart Memorial Foundation; Trina told them to pay their bills.

“It was so touching and so heartwarming,” Krystal Fulgham said. “I think that’s one of the most wonderful things about it. Any kind of help when you’re in those situations is great, but so many people want proof of this or proof of that.

“Ty just wants everybody to play sports and not be left behind.”

Since the foundation was established in 2016, it has provided about $35,000 to hundreds of young athletes around Oregon to pay for equipment so they can play sports.

Playing sports helped make Ty Hart – a 2012 graduate of Stayton High School – who he was.

The purpose of the foundation is to remove financial obstacles so children will get the same opportunities to play sports Ty Hart had.

“We want Ty to be their hero,” Trina Hart said. “We don’t ever want any child to feel like they’re poor.”

Ty Hart, a 2012 graduate of Stayton High School and former Eagle football player and wrestler, was among a dozen Marines killed when two helicopters crashed during training exercises in Hawaii Jan 14.

Ty Hart, the athlete

Growing up as the little brother, Hart followed his siblings into the sports they tried.

When he was young, he excelled in aggressive sports like martial arts, but out of competition he was an easy-going, fun-loving guy.

In high school, Hart played football, competed in track and field, participated in cheerleading and wrestling.

Hart was never the star athlete but was always one of the most well-liked players on any team.

“He was just a super friendly kid who everyone always liked,” said Stayton principal Alan Kirby, an assistant coach on Stayton’s football team when Hart played.

Though Hart wrestled only his final two years of high school, he qualified for the state wrestling tournament both years.

But his older brother, Alan Nix, previously had been a four-year state qualifier in wrestling, and Hart learned more than he realized.

“I’ve been his wrestling dummy for a lot of years,” Hart used to tell people.

Ty Hart

Ty Hart, the Marine

After graduating from Stayton in 2012, Hart joined the Marines. He rose to the level of Crew Chief, married high school sweetheart Hanna in June of 2015 and was assigned to the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

While on a training mission about 11 p.m. on Jan. 14, 2016 off the north shore of Oahu, the helicopter in which Hart was flying crashed into another Marine helicopter.

It immediately drew international attention.

“In times of grief, we naturally want to put our heads in the sand, cover up and be quiet,” Trina Hart said. “We didn’t have a choice. It was too big, too fast.”

Mike and Trina Hart flew to Hawaii to be there as the search for Hart and the helicopter crews continued.

It was called off five days later. While the family sat on a beach that night, one of Hanna’s friends wrote in the sand “Hart Strong.”

RELATED:Lance Cpl. Ty Hart given honor burial at family home

Hart’s body was one of the nine among the 12 that were recovered. He was buried at the family’s farm in Aumsville in April of 2016.

“There was a memorial in Hawaii on day eight,” Trina Hart said. “Big, military, full-blown. That could have been it, right? But we couldn’t do that.

“His brothers weren’t there, they were here. We decided when we get home we need to have a memorial. And that was at the high school. There was about 2,500 people came to that. Then four months later when his remains came home, we had a military burial with honors here.”

The foundation

In the days after Hart was declared missing, a friend of the family, Kristin Chappell, started a GoFundMe page to help the family.

By the time the family learned about the page, it had raised about $7,500.

Tribute to Fallen Soldiers Northwest cars flank family of Ty Hart.

The family immediately tried to give the money back, but many of the donations were anonymous and couldn’t be returned.

Hart’s family was comfortable financially and all of Hart’s funeral expenses were taken care of by the Marines so the family had to decide what to do with the donated money.

With how much playing sports meant to Ty, they decided to start a foundation in Hart’s name so other children would get the same opportunities.

The foundation received non-profit status and months later three $500 scholarships were given to high school seniors based on how sports had impacted their lives.

“To us, he’s just our little boy,” said Trina Hart, the president of the foundation. “But the lives he’s touched and changed, it’s really cool, it’s really cool to see the fruit of your labor raising him and then to see the change, the positive change that he’s been able to bring through his death.

“It means he didn’t die in vain.”

The fundraising has grown.

The annual poker ride raised $14,000 in one day earlier this month. There is a Zumbathon in Stayton each year. The foundation also sells apparel at events and at hartstrong.org.

Hanna Hart, Ty's widow, is the secretary of the foundation.

The scholarships

When a student is identified as needing financial help – by an administrator, coach, teacher or friend – they are given a card and told Ty Hart would like to purchase equipment for them.

If they are in the Stayton area, they can go to Stayton Sports Store and are directed to the needed equipment like cleats, pads or clothes. The maximum a student can spend is $300.

If the athlete is not near Stayton, someone from the foundation calls a store the athlete will visit and arranges payment so the student can pick out their needed equipment.

The foundation doesn’t ask for proof of the athlete’s need or want the student’s name; they want to write checks to directly help the athlete.

Ty Hart's Stayton High School sports equipment at his parents' home in Aumsville on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. Lance Cpl. Ty Hart was one of 12 Marines who died in 2016 when two military helicopters collided during a training exercise in Hawaii. His family started a scholarship in his name so children and their families can afford to pay for sports equipment or training.

The foundation’s first beneficiaries were at Stayton High School, and Kirby said he has had about 12 students this fall receive scholarships.

The program expanded to Cascade High School, but it’s also helped athletes from throughout the state as word spread.

Kirby said he tells each student who comes to him with need about Ty Hart and who he was.

But he also doesn’t tell anyone – even the Hart family – who the student in need is.

Kirby said the most impactful situation was a sophomore boy who told him he really wanted to play a sport – any sport – but couldn’t afford it.

“We’re going to take care of that for you,” Kirby told the sophomore who is now playing football.

“It is still hard to reach all the kids,” Kirby said. “I’m sure there are some kids who don’t want to say they need help.”

There are stories: a single mother whose daughters got to play softball for the first time because of the foundation; a cheerleader who came to the Hart's house and performed a routine to show how much the scholarship would help them participate.

The foundation has been approached about bigger donations for things like turf football fields, but has declined. Its mission is to help athletes one at a time.

Lance Cpl. Ty Hart was laid to rest on his family's property in Aumsville on Sunday, April 17, 2016. Hart was one of 12 Marines who died Jan. 14 when two military helicopters collided during training exercises in Hawaii.

Paying it forward in Ty Hart’s name

The Hart family knows how expensive it can be to keep kids playing sports.

At one point during the Great Recession of 2008 – the family owned a construction company at the time – they had three boys in high school playing multiple sports.

But they always found a way to make sure their sons had the equipment they needed to be able to play, even in years when Ty was growing so fast he would go through two pairs of wrestling shoes.

The boys were taught early that when they grew out of equipment to give it to their coaches to give to another athlete.

Ty Hart's Stayton High School letterman jacket hangs on his bedroom door at his parents' home in Aumsville on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. Lance Cpl. Ty Hart was one of 12 Marines who died in 2016 when two military helicopters collided during a training exercise in Hawaii. His family started a scholarship in his name so children and their families can afford to pay for sports equipment or training.

Zac Fulgham came upon a family a few months ago that was having similar problems to the ones his family faced back in 2016 – Dillon Fulgham has recovered and is back to work as an HVAC technician.

He talked to the student’s parents and told them about how the foundation helped him and how it could help them.

“They were just a little scared and I ended up contacting (Trina) myself to help them out because she helped us when we were at a time of need,” said Zac Fulgham, now a sophomore running back on Cascade’s football team.

“I ended up having them get helped out just the same way we got help.”

bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com