Two years ago, Denver Broncos running back and St. Louis native Damien Nash was at the top of his game during a celebrity basketball game. The event was held to raise funds for his Brother to Brother Foundation – an organization he created in honor of his brother Darris to raise money for heart transplant research.
“Everything he threw up went in,” said Terry Curry, Nash’s former teammate at Mizzou and current president of the Nash Youth Association. “He was the star of the game.”
The game was the inaugural charity event that Nash held for the foundation. An hour later, an unthinkable tragedy struck the Nash family and the St. Louis community.
It would be the athlete Damien Nash – not his brother, who suffered from heart disease – who passed away from an undetected heart condition.
Following his death, the organization that Damien Nash started has been reincarnated to honor his commitment to the community.
And this weekend, Damien Nash’s legacy of giving back will continue through the people who loved him most. The Nash Youth Association, in conjunction with 39th Ave. Music LLC, will present a charity basketball game and life celebration gala in his honor.
The game will take place at 1:30 p.m. at Nash’s Riverview Gardens alma mater, with the gala at 8 p.m. at the Old Rock House
“It’s hard, but it makes me feel good when I can help kids – I see my son in every kid and I try to help every one of them that I can,” said Damien’s mother Kimberly Nash.
“I can’t let my son go, and it’s what gets me through the day. I want to keep my son’s name alive and to help as many people as we can in St. Louis.”
With the help of Curry, Kimberly Nash evolved the Brother to Brother foundation into The Nash Youth Association, a 501c3 organization that offers resources to the children of St. Louis County.
“He and I worked so closely together that he was able to share his vision with me,” Curry said. “It was an honor to put me in that place to bridge his vision over to me.”
Since its inception, the organization has provided canned goods to food pantries, school supplies to area children and guidance to incarcerated youth, among other activities.
“Knowing Damien, he would want us to go on instead of just sitting back and pouting,” Curry said.
The ultimate goal for the organization is to create a boys and girls club in North County called the Damien Nash Youth Complex. According to Curry, The Nash Youth Association wants to provide membership at no or little cost to the kids and offer educational resources and mentoring.
Beginning a cheerleading camp as soon as he became a professional football player, Damien Nash planted the seed. And his mother and partner are working to make sure that his vision blossoms.
“Me and him were going to start an organization for children to play sports,” Kimberly Nash said of her son. “It started when he first got into the NFL. That’s what he was doing always – he fed the homeless on Christmas and on Thanksgiving and things like that.”
Even two years after his death, Kimberly Nash is still in awe at the number of lives her son touched in his 24 years. She still feels the impact her son had in the area by the love she gets from people paying respect to his memory.
“I’m going to do what my son was doing before he passed away – giving back,” Kimberly Nash said. “But this weekend is not only about giving back, but showing a positive light to the community – to show these young people that they can do it too.”
The ball is now in the hands of his former teammate Curry – who met Damien Nash when they were rivals vying for a state championship in high school. Curry has taken Damien’s dream and run with it.
Curry said, “I just think that it’s vital that he understands that we are holding his legacy down.”
The Nash Youth Association Charity Basketball Game will tip off at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, with a pre-game autograph session by MU Football Tigers Sean Witherspoon, Derrick Washington, Carl Gettis and Hardy Ricks at Riverview Gardens High School (1218 Shepley Dr.). The game will begin at 3 p.m. The Damien Nash Life Celebration gala will start at 8 p.m. at The Old Rock House (1200 S. 7th St.). For more information, call 314-395-1562 or visit www.nyausa.org.
