When former Allen Community College baseball player Torrence Summerlin Jr. was killed in a shooting last August, it was a tragic moment for the Red Devils. Iola declared Jan. 1, Summerlin’s birthday, as “Torrence Summerlin Day.”
Now, Allen County head coach Clint Stoy, along with Summerlin’s mother, Carla, are establishing a scholarship in his honor.
“When people ask who Torrence Summerlin was, I want them to know he was a great kid,” said Summerlin. “He played ball here and was killed in his hometown for pretty much nothing.”
Summerlin, 26, had a passion for collecting, trading, and selling vintage sneakers and was killed in broad daylight in his hometown of Chicago, while selling a vintage pair of shoes to help pay back a small business loan, after opening his own property management business.
“He had been doing it since high school and was very careful,” Summerlin said. “He sold so many in college also just to get through sometimes. He had so much going for him. He was trying to build generational wealth for his family and was looking at buying a second building. He had so much more to accomplish.”
Summerlin was so beloved in his hometown that his alma mater, Whitney Young High School, is memorializing Summerlin with a plaque on its baseball diamond.
Stoy, along with Summerlin, hope to establish a scholarship to be awarded to a baseball player in Summerlin’s honor. A GoFundMe raised over $25,000 for funeral expenses and to help establish the scholarship. Stoy wanted to do a $1,000 scholarship, but Summerlin hopes to go a little bigger. Either way, it will help a deserving student-athlete.
“If we could do maybe $10,000 every year for a student, that would be lovely,” Summerlin said. “I have $5,000 put away from the GoFundMe, but my goal is to get up to $10,000. When Stoy brought up the scholarship I thought it would be beautiful. I remember Torrence struggling one year. Hopefully the scholarship can help someone ease that struggle.”
Stoy announced the original $1,000 scholarship at the Red Devil Diamond Club Hall of Fame ceremony in October. The announcement brought Stoy to tears as the room erupted in praise.
“It was inspired because he was so loved here by everybody. Anybody that was around him, he was that infectious guy that you know that you always wanted to be around. He was always smiling and laughing. He drew everyone to him.”
Stoy and Summerlin hope the scholarship keeps Torrence’s name and memory alive and that it can help make the dream of playing college athletics real for another athlete, just as Torrence’s dream came true before his passing.
The season opener for the Red Devils is Feb. 8 when Pratt comes to Iola for two days of doubleheaders.
