HOULTON, Maine — Family and friends of 1st Sgt. Aaron Henderson gathered in Houlton Community Park over the weekend for four full days of softball, while remembering their fallen hero.
Team Chelsea won the 10th annual Aaron Henderson Memorial Softball trophy, battling its way out of the consolation bracket by winning seven straight games. The squad defeated Team 207 twice for the championship.
Team Chelsea won the 10th annual Aaron Henderson Memorial Softball trophy, battling its way out of the consolation bracket by winning seven straight games.
Henderson was an avid sports fan and standout athlete during his time at Hodgdon High School in the late 1990s. He died from wounds received in an improvised explosive device attack of his unit in 2012 in Afghanistan. He was 33 years old.
“Thank you all for a great four days honoring Aaron,” said event organizer Brad Fredricks. “From everyone that entered the homerun derby to the 5K, cornhole tournament and all the teams that came from all over to make this event successful. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that I can’t thank enough. Aaron will never be forgotten.”
This year’s tournament raised $8,130 for the Green Beret Foundation in Henderson’s memory. Organizers also plan to use a portion of the proceeds to create a scholarship at Hodgdon High School in Henderson’s memory.
HOULTON, Maine — August 27, 2022 — Scott Sjoberg (right) speaks Saturday morning at the 10th annual Aaron Henderson memorial softball event in Community Park. To his right, holding a flag to be presented to the Henderson family, is Jim Gravel. (Joseph Cyr | Houlton Pioneer Times)
During Saturday’s opening ceremony, speaker Scott Sjoberg, a childhood friend of Henderson’s, spoke candidly about growing up with Henderson and how the tournament has helped to keep his memory alive.
“After Aaron passed, we all were gathered at Hodgdon High School and were trying to come up with some way to get us all back together,” he explained. “So we came up with the idea of doing a softball tournament to honor Aaron.”
Sjoberg said the group of “knuckleheads” became lifelong friends when they decided to join a softball league.
“There was no league in Houlton at the time, so we joined the Oakfield league,” he said. “There were four or five of us with baseball experience, then there were the rest of us who were just figuring it out on the run. We had one bat between us.”
Sjoberg said the group became pretty good over the years and soon were competing in tournaments around Aroostook County.
He recalled one humorous story when he and Henderson were playing in the outfield together.
“You can get caught daydreaming sometimes in the outfield,” he recalled. “A guy hit a long fly ball and I didn’t react. Aaron started encouraging me to run ‘back!’ so I did — right into the wall. Aaron comes over to me and says ‘my bad.’”
Friday night’s games were rained out, making for a busy slate of games Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the softball tourney, a home run derby and cornhole tournament were held.
The Henderson Memorial events have only grown in popularity over the years. In 2021, the softball tourney raised $7,517 for the Green Beret Foundation in Henderson’s memory. In 2020, with COVID-19 prevalent, the event had fewer softball squads, but raised nearly $10,000, while in 2019 the event raised $7,210. In 2018, a record $10,690 was raised by the tournament and road race.
HOULTON, Maine — August 27, 2022 — Focused on the ball as he gets ready to take a swing during Saturday’s Aaron Henderson Memorial softball tournament is Jordyn Merritt. (Joseph Cyr | Houlton Pioneer Times)
