Remembering John Hilgert

HOUSTON, Texas -- 14 year old John Hilgert was a gifted athlete whose life was tragically cut short during the 2021 Astroworld concert. The hurt was felt throughout the close knit Memorial community. A community that wanted to do something to ease the pain. Memorial Dad, Nelson Lee, got things rolling.

"John passed away at the Travis Scott concert in November of 2021, it was a really raw feeling. Sometimes saying you're sorry is not enough. We all wanted to do something in memory of John."

Finding a way to honor and remember John took off. A website was started to raise money for a new baseball scoreboard at Memorial high school. The "John Hilgert" Scoreboard. John's teammate Andrew Baay loved the idea, "it's a great idea to raise this to remember John and the impact he made on the Memorial community."

Lee, the other Memorial dads and colleagues of John's father, Chris Hilgert got together and started fundraising.

Lee says, "we decided what could the Memorial baseball program need that would be a lasting memory to John, we decided we needed a new scoreboard."

The dads decided to go all out with a scoreboard that plays video and sound and the ability to play movies. A program is being started in the Spring Branch school district where the scoreboard will be used to showcase the work of the students.

"Future generations of kids will know John. I'm hoping in 15 years a kid will look up and say who's John Hilgert? Someone can say, he was a great kid who loved Baseball."