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The Hunter Byers Classic soccer event was created when two Page High School soccer players, Timmy Steele and Andy Green, wanted to honor their friend, classmate and teammate, Hunter Byers, and also wanted to help raise money for school improvements.

In its fifth year,The Hunter Byers Classic soccer event will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 26 at Page High School’s Marion Kirby Stadium.

Proceeds will go to the Page High School Athletic Boosters’ Club and help pay for improvements to the school’s athletics complex.
Players from any prior Page soccer team are invited to join with the alum team as they play the current varsity team.

“The game is competitive,” Coach Mohamed Jaziri said. “The 'old’ players try to prove that they still have it, while the younger players try to convince them that it is time to pass the baton to the next generation.”

This also is an opportunity for former players to come back to Page to honor and celebrate Hunter Byers, an outstanding student and soccer player who died in 2003, one month before his 17th birthday, from an aneurysm in his brain stem. He was a junior when he suffered a stroke while in math class.

“They came to see me and asked if we could do it,” Jaziri said of Steele and Green. “I agreed. The school and the Byers family agreed, and the game became a fixture of our fall soccer program.”

The first Hunter Byers Classic event was held the fall 2004.

“Hunter was a wonderful kid who led by example,” Jaziri said. “I remember that he was always kind, compassionate and helpful to his teammates. He was a quiet leader on our soccer team who followed directions and did what was expected of him on the soccer field.”

Byers excelled in the classroom as well as on the field. He was an honor roll student and was an active member of First Presbyterian Church.

Byers was once asked to give a devotional at a youth group gathering. Not being one who embraced speaking before groups, he gave this short, meaningful devotional: “Your life is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God.”

For the next several years, this phrase became the mantra for the church’s youth group.

For the yearbook of Byers’ senior classmates, the Byers family purchased a full page ad to give his friends and classmates the opportunity to write remembrances about him.

This statement sums up the feeling of many of his classmates: “He got it,” wrote a fellow soccer player and friend.

The current varsity soccer players consider it an honor to play in this event. They realize it is special and look forward to playing against previous soccer team members, many of whom were league champions or played on state championship teams.

Colleen Long said she and her family were one of the Byerses’ first neighbors in Greensboro. Hunter Byers was a few years older than her oldest child. She remembers that her children looked up to Byers as “the wonderful older neighbor who taught them how to ride a bike, or allowed them to play roller hockey in the cul-de-sac with the big kids.”

One of his good friends, Adam Mitchell said, “Hunter was loved and everyone knew and respected him at Page. He was always smiling, which had a positive effect on everyone around him.”

For several years, the Byers family has awarded scholarships in Byers’ name — $1,500 each to a male and female senior. These scholarships will end in 2010 with the graduation from Page of Byers’ sister, Caroline Byers. Caroline Byers is the student body president, yearbook editor and plays on the women’s lacrosse team.

The Byers family also has been supportive of the lacrosse program as Byers’ younger brother, Gray Byers, played on the team. He is now a student at the University of South Carolina.

Parents and the Boosters Club plan to grill hamburgers and hot dogs and offer baked goods, beverages and other goodies for sale at the concession stand during the event. Profits will go to the Hunter Byers Fund. Alumni players will be guests and will receive a ticket for their free meal.

“This is our way of thanking the soccer alumni players for coming back and participating in this event,” Colleen Long said.

Pregame ticket sales will be available at Page High School from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 23-25. Otherwise, all tickets are $5 at the gate.

There’s a saying, “Some people come into our lives and quietly go; others stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never the same.”

Hunter Byers left footprints on the hearts of many and continues to do so.

To suggest a person or organization who has or is “Making a Difference” in Guilford County, contact Peggy Longmire at rlongmire@ triad.rr.com or 288-9040.