Wiffle Ball Tournament In Memory Of East Brunswick Student Aims To Raise Scholarship Funds

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — On February 22, 2015, 18-year-old East Brunswick resident Patrick Awosogba was playing basketball at Cook/Douglass Recreation Center at Rutgers University.

At about 2 p.m. Awosogba collapsed. Lifeguards on duty performed CPR and he was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. He was later pronounced dead. ‘

According to family and friends, the freshman had a rare heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). In HCM, the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, causing an arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat.

Awosogba was a 2014 graduate of East Brunswick High School, who played as a reserve outfielder on the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division championship baseball team.

And every year since his death, his former East Brunswick High School classmate and baseball teammate Greg Sampson organizes a wiffleball tournament in memory of Awosogba. The tournament helps raise scholarship money for the Aswosogba family, who then present it to a highly deserving East Brunswick High School student.

“I am truly thankful for East Brunswick Complex for allowing us to host the wiffleball tournament in honor of my friend Patrick Awosogba. BJ, as I called him, was my little league and high school baseball teammate and more importantly my friend,” Sampson said.

“The tournament is an awesome experience getting to see new and old friends come together. I am truly thankful to be able to help keep my friend's memory alive.”

This year’s tournament will be held on Aug. 3, 9 a.m., at the East Brunswick Baseball Managers Complex.

Those interested in participating can register here.

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