Justin Hughes mourned by community and Cavaliers
Of the St. Louis American
To most of the St. Louis community, young Justin Hughes was best known for being the little brother of local basketball star Larry Hughes, a starting guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
If you were lucky enough to know Justin Hughes personally, you knew that this was a young man who was a star in his own right with his own identity and engaging personality.
Justin Hughes passed away last week, 10 years after being the recipient of a heart transplant. Born with a congenital heart defect in 1986, Justin graced our Earth for 20 years with a passion for life in the face of great adversity from the day he was born. The outpouring of love and support for Hughes and his family was so large that the funeral was moved to a bigger venue.
Services were held on Tuesday morning at the New Sunnymount Missionary Baptist Church. Among those in attendance were the members of the Cavaliers, who flew into St. Louis on Monday night after defeating the Detroit Pistons in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Larry Hughes has missed the last two playoff games to be with his family. The franchise sent a huge delegation to St. Louis to be at the Hughes’ family side.
A 2004 graduate of Parkway North High, Justin Hughes leaves behind a loving mother in Vanessa Hughes, a doting big brother in Larry plus the legions of people whose lives he touched with his family story that epitomized love, courage and togetherness.
As Larry Hughes’ basketball career rose in stature from CBC High to Saint Louis University to the National Basketball Association, it brought more attention to Justin’s plight and to organ donation awareness. Larry’s stardom may have brought Justin into the spotlight, but it was Justin’s fun-loving nature that kept this light shining and people smiling.
The Larry Hughes Foundation was formed to help families affected by the financial burdens of organ transplants. Donations in Justin’s memory can be sent to the foundation (1021 South Big Bend Blvd., St. Louis, 63117).
Justin received a life-saving heart transplant in 1996 during Larry’s senior year at CBC. Larry chose to play college basketball at Saint Louis University mainly to stay close to Justin and Vanessa. After a brilliant freshman season at SLU, Larry joined the professional ranks to help pay for the mounting medical bills for Justin’s care. Every step of the way, Justin was a fixture at Larry’s side. Larry shared all of his good fortune with Justin, and Justin responded in kind by spreading the love and drawing in even more people.
Larry and Justin were a great team because of their diverse personalities, which helped fill each other’s gaps. Despite his stardom, Larry has always been the quiet, introverted type who was very serious in his basketball pursuits and more serious about being the head man of the Hughes household, making all of his life decisions with his family in mind.
Meanwhile, Justin was the life of the party everywhere he went. While Larry could command the stage with his wonderful basketball skills, Justin accomplished the same task with his smile and overflowing charm. It was truly amazing how this kid could be so positive and engaging around others when life dealt him such a bad hand from the beginning. It was nothing for Justin to greet you with a big hug instead of a hello. Larry’s contemporaries became Justin’s friends in short order.
At the 1997 Nike Hoop Summit, when Larry played with a group of top USA players against a team of International All-Stars, Justin spent the entire weekend paling around with star guard Baron Davis, who is now with the Golden State Warriors. Baron would give the “What’s up, Larry,” then immediately go find his buddy Justin. He even had his own little posse that ran around at CBC’s games during those days. Justin, little Alex Bartoni and Jimmy Allen were quite a crew in their own right.
One of the highlights of the 1997 basketball season came on Friday night, Feb. 14 when Justin made a surprise appearance at CBC’s home game against arch-rival DeSmet. It was Justin’s first public appearance since his heart transplant surgery two months earlier. The crowd went absolutely wild as Justin showed up smiling and waving. The Cadets played as they’ve never played before as they clobbered DeSmet with an emotional onslaught.
It should not be surprising that one decade later, the Cavaliers have won two emotionally-charged playoff games against the mighty Pistons. Their love for Larry and Justin has given them added purpose in their attempt to pull off this monumental upset. After winning Game 3 on Saturday, Cavs’ star LeBron James dedicated the game to Larry and Justin.
Justin Hughes is our little angel now, watching over Vanessa, Larry, the countless number of people in need of organ donations and millions of others who followed his story and grew to love him.
Donations in Justin’s memory can be sent to The Larry Hughes Foundation (1021 South Big Bend Blvd., St. Louis, 63117) to help families affected by the financial burdens of organ transplants.
