St. Marys girls bowling team honoring late teammate.
St. Marys girls bowling team honor late teammate with symbol on sleeve
For members of the St. Marys girls bowling team, this season means more than just winning another Western Buckeye League title or making another state appearance.
It’s about playing the season for a teammate and friend that went too soon.
“Any match we want to win for her,” senior Lily Steinberg said.
Since the beginning of the year, bowlers from both the varsity and junior varsity teams wore a small black sleeve on their upper arm in memory of Shelby Jacobs, a junior varsity bowler who would have bowled on the varsity team this season, but passed away to injuries from an automobile accident in May.
“She was always a part of the team,” Alexis Kruse said. “We definitely wanted to dedicate this season to her.”
All of the girls on both the St. Marys varsity and junior varsity teams said they wanted to do something to honor Jacobs so they came up with the black sleeve, but for some, the sleeve felt suffocating for them to wear it during matches. So earlier this week, the bowlers got a butterfly on their left sleeve with the initials S and J on either side of the butterfly.
The significance of the emblem on the sleeves goes back when the girls released butterflies at Jacobs’ funeral.
“She was always very energetic and very positive,” Roughriders coach Karl Dammeyer said.
Kruse said all of the girls had their own connections with her.
“Some go deeper and some go smaller,” Kruse added.
The Roughriders boys team also wore a black sleeve earlier this season in honor of Jacobs.
“She never had an enemy,” senior Tricia Yahl chipped in.
Jacobs passed away at 11:41 a.m. May 22 after being involved in a car accident on May 19 and was buried at Resthaven Memory Gardens.
Jacobs was a vivacious, hard-working teen. Her friendly, outgoing personality brightened the lives of her family, customers and many close friends.
“We weren’t able to see her after the accident because of COVID so that just made it worse,” senior Katelyn Schreima said.
A junior this year, Jacobs was a member of the Wayne Street United Methodist Church and its youth group. School-related activities included the bowling team, St. Marys All-Brass Band, Dance Team, MHS Choir, Drama Club, Gatekeepers and Drama Club musical productions.
“We just tried to keep her in our thoughts and prayers because even though we couldn’t be there, no matter what happened, as he was going to be there with us,” Yahl said. “She has definitely shown up this season.”
Yahl gave an example where it felt Jacobs knocked down a couple of single-pin spares throughout the season.
“There’s been times when I’ll turn around, thinking I’m not going to pick up a spare and that pin fell down,” Yahl said. “No one was down there and nothing touched the pin.
“And we just looked up and said, ‘Thank you Shelby,’ because she works her magic in ways we couldn’t even understand.”
After the Roughriders’ season-opening win against Bath, varsity members took a group picture together with Jacobs’ picture, and although the picture frame is now cracked, the girls said they still have the picture to remember.
“It’s always at practice,”
Schreima added.
“We know that she is always on our minds but to
be able to see here kind of brings that comfort that, like, that she’ll still be during the bowling season,” Emily Pond said. “It’s a passion we all share together.”
Coach Jay Gibson said the program has started a scholarship fund last year but with Jacobs’ passing, the program decided to put the scholarship fund in Jacobs’ name. The scholarship will go to any outgoing MHS senior based on academic standards, athletics and their impact on the community.
“Her parents are both still active and want to know what is going on and how well the bowling team is doing,” Gibson said. “So we just like to keep in touch with them.”
Yahl said she receives a text from Jacobs’ parents after every match with words of encouragement.
“It is nice to know that they are still watching and that we are still supporting Shelby too,” the senior said. “It’s a good relationship.”